RC09 - Comparative Judicial Studies

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29Mar 2011

The Docket, Issue 45 (April 2011)

The latest issue of RC09's Newsletter, "The Docket" is now available. Issue 45 (April 2011)

02Mar 2011

Conference Information - RC09 Interim Meeting University of California, Irvine, July 21-23, 2011

A document entitled Conference Information is now available for those attending RC09's 2011 Interim Meeting at the University of California, Irvine. This document includes:

  1. The Conference Program
  2. Hotels and Restaurants
  3. Registering for Irvine 2011
  4. Method of Payment
  5. Airport Information

13Jan 2011

New Publication - RC09 Member Lisa Vanhala

Making Rights a Reality? Disability Rights Activists and Legal Mobilization Lisa Vanhala, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University




Making Rights a Reality? explores the way in which disability activists in the United Kingdom and Canada have transformed their aspirations into legal claims in their quest for equality. It unpacks shifting conceptualizations of the political identity of disability and the role of a rights discourse in these dynamics. In doing so, it delves into the diffusion of disability rights among grassroots organizations and the traditional disability charities. The book draws on a wealth of primary sources including court records and campaign documents and encompassing interviews with more than sixty activists and legal experts. While showing that the disability rights movement has had a significant impact on equality jurisprudence in two countries, the book also demonstrates that the act of mobilizing rights can have consequences, both intended and unintended, for social movements themselves.

Please visit Making Rights a Reality? at Cambridge University Press.

06Jan 2011

Conference Programme RC09 Univerity of California-Irvine 2011

The programme committee for RC09's interim meeting (James Kelly, Charles Anthony Smith, and Diana Kapiszewski) that will be held at the University of California-Irvine in July 2011 are pleased to release the programme for Conference Program RC09 Irvine 2011

23Dec 2010

New Publication - RC09 Member Kate Malleson

Ruth Mackenzie, Kate Malleson, Penny Martin, and Philippe Sands QC, Selecting International Judges Principle, Process, and Politics

This book examines the way international court judges are chosen. Focusing principally on the judicial selection procedures of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, it provides the first detailed examination of how the selection process works in practice at national and international levels: what factors determine whether a state will nominate a candidate? How is a candidate identified? What factors influence success or failure? What are the respective roles of merit, politics, and other considerations in the nomination and election process?

The research was based on interviews, case studies and survey data in a range of different states. It concludes that although the nature and quality of nomination and election processes vary widely, a common theme indicates the powerful influence of domestic and international political considerations, and the significant role of a small group of diplomats, civil servants, lawyers, and academics, often without transparency or accountability. The processes allow overt political considerations to be introduced throughout the decision-making process in ways that may detract from the selection of the most highly qualified candidates and, ultimately, undermine independence. This is particularly evident in the election campaigning that has become a defining feature of the selection process, accompanied by widespread vote trading and reciprocal agreements between states. The effect of these practices is often to undermine the role of statutory selection criteria and to favour candidates from more politically powerful states. The book reviews new judicial selection models adopted or proposed in other international and regional courts, and considers a number of proposals for change to promote more independent, transparent, and merit-based nomination and election procedures.

Details at:

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199580569.do?keyword=selecting+international+judges&sortby=bestMatches

23Dec 2010

The Politics of Judicial Independence in Britain’s Changing Constitution

Academics from Queen Mary, University of London, University College London and the University of Birmingham have been awarded funding for a three year research project on ‘The Politics of Judicial Independence in Britain’s Changing Constitution’. The project is rooted in the heightened tensions which have arisen between politicians and the judges in the UK in recent years, in the light of the increasing influence of the judiciary. That in turn has triggered a growing debate about judicial independence and judicial accountability. The project will have a strong comparative dimension, drawing on experiences in other jurisdictions to help make sense of current developments in the UK.

More details of the project can be found at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/judicial-independence

27Aug 2010

Call for Papers: RC09 2011 Interim Meeting

RC09's 2011 Interim Meeting will be held at the University of California-Irvine, July 21-23, 2011. The theme of this meeting is "The Judicialization of Politics from International and Comparative Perspectives" and is hosted by Professor Charles Anthony Smith and Professor Diana Kapiszewski of the Department of Political Science.

A proposal with a 200 word abstract for RC09 at University of California-Irvine will be accepted until November 15, 2010.

18Aug 2010

New Publication - David Erdos

RC09 is pleased to announce the recent publication of David Erdos's book, Delegating Rights Protection: The Rise of Bills of Rights in the Westminster World by Oxford University Press (UK). Information on David's book can be found at Oxford University Press.

06Jul 2010

Menu for Justice - Toward a European Curriculum Studiorum on Judicial Studies

The Project

A common legal framework and a convergent judicial culture represent one of the pillars on which the European integration process has been pivoting since its very beginning. Today, more than ever, the understanding and the maintenance of the tempo and the direction of the integration need to rely on a common language with which Europeans and European policy makers develop a dialogue across domestic and cultural differences.

Menu for Justice is the first European project that takes seriously the issue of how young generations should be trained in law and legal matters and how the prospective experts of law and courts should be provided of new skills and competences to effectively face the challenges of a common judicial space. By devoting three years of common work among fifty partners in Europe, the project aims at assessing principal shortcomings of legal education, developing an innovative curriculum studiorum in judicial studies, and offering the EU and the public basic guidelines to monitor the way legal and judicial training are changing in the EU, all over the cycles of education (from undergraduate to graduate, PhD programs and vocational learning).

Please visit Menu for Justice at https://www.academic-projects.eu/menuforjustice/default.aspx

15Jun 2010

RC09 - Final Conference Programme - Bologna, Italy, June 21-23, 2010

The final conference programme for RC09's forthcoming conference at the Univeristy of Bologna, "Judicial Review as 'Insurance Policy': Horizontal and Vertical Accountability in Democratic and Transitional States" is now available: RC 09 Final Conference Programme, Bologna 2010

12Feb 2010

Latest RC09 Newsletter "The Docket" Now Available

Issue 44 (February 2010) of "The Docket" is now available at Issue 44 (February 2010)

14Dec 2009

New Publication by RC 09 Member Daniela Piana

In January 2010, Ashgate will publish Daniela Piana's new book Judicial Accountabilities in New Europe: From Rule of Law to Quality of Justice.

22Jul 2009

New Executive Committee Member

The Executive Committee welcomes the newest member, Daniela Piana, from the University of Bologna. Daniela’s appointment was confirmed during the recent RC09 Business Meeting at IPSA 2009 in Santiago, Chile.

22Jul 2009

RC09 Newsletter 'The Docket'

The July 2009 Issue of The Docket is now available Issue 43 (July 2009)

02Jul 2009

Welcome to the Website of the Research Committee on Comparative Judicial Studies (RC09)

The Research Committee for Comparative Judicial Studies (RC09) is one of 49 active research committees of the International Political Science Association. Our purpose is to promote scholarly work on law, courts, and judicial processes from a comparative perspective. Ultimately, we seek to bring the study of the various dimensions of judicial systems within the mainstream of comparative political research. RC09 encourages comparative research on judicial systems and the participation of scholars in our program regardless of the disciplinary origins and commitments of those who do the research.

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