Transnational Networks and Elite Self-Empowerment: The Making of the Judiciary in Contemporary Europe and Beyond

Author: Cristina Parau
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197266403
Published In: November 2018
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

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Judicial institutions in the new democracies established after the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe have become patterned on a transnational template that maximises judicial empowerment to the detriment of national parliaments.

Through the influence of an elite, transnational community of interest, revisions to the judiciary have been implemented with little attention from politicians or the public. As a result, there has been a shift in the role of the judiciary from adjudication under the law towards improvising public policy. Transnational Networks and Elite Self-Empowerment is an inquiry into why and how this could have come about, and what the implications are for democracy.

Cristina Parau explores the processes by which the elites have used transnational networks as a means of self-empowerment, and how they have been able to entrench their minority influence within the constitutions of their countries.

Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, she builds a strong case through a deep analysis set against and supported by an extensive series of interviews with key political actors. This is a timely reminder of the need to pay attention to our democratic institutions and not to take for granted the foundations on which they are laid.

List of abbreviations

Introduction: Thesis and Antithesis

Part I: The Transnational Network Community

1: The Ambit of the Network Community

2: Identity and Solidarity

3: The Network Community in Action

Part II: The Judicializing Paradigm and its Template

4: Judicial Independence: Autonomy or Autocracy?

5: The Assumption of Intellectual-Moral Superiority and its Consequences

6: The Judiciary Template

Conclusions

Annexe: Interviewees