Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Integrative Research Institute Law & Society (LSI)

Recently, there has been a renewed focus on the role that constitutional courts can play in threatened democracies. Firstly, they have emerged as a target for anti-democratic governments that seek to remove obstacles to authoritarian populist rule. Secondly, their ability to resist has been discussed as potentially playing a vital role in the maintenance of democracy. This is, however, a difficult task for an institution reliant on other actors – and difficulties in enforcing its judgment only grow in threatened democracies. The hoped-for role of a bulwark against authoritarian transition is dependent on its decisions in marshalling limited resources. The thesis develops a typology for understanding how constitutional courts act in this situation. It is argued that constitutional courts operate strategically and choose on a spectrum of passive and active reactions. The different types of strategy are then analysed empirically with case studies of India, Brazil and the United States.

Campbell MacGillivray is a research associate at the Chair of Political Theory and History of Ideas at the University of Göttingen. His research focuses on democratic and constitutional theory; comparative politics; the American political system; government transformation and recent authoritarianism research; state theory, especially constitutional courts.

The event is part of our series Werkstattgespräche: Nichtjuristische Zugänge und Methoden zur Erforschung des Rechts.