Constitutional courts have emerged as central institutions in many advanced democracies. This book investigates the sources and the limits of judicial authority, focusing on the central role of public support for judicial independence. The empirical sections of the book illustrate the theoretical argument in an in-depth study of the German Federal Constitutional Court, including statistical analysis of judicial decisions, case studies, and interviews with judges and legislators. The book's major finding is that the interests of governing majorities, prevailing public opinion, and the transparency of the political environment exert a powerful influence on judicial decisions. Judges are influenced not only by jurisprudential considerations and their policy preferences, but also by strategic concerns. By highlighting this dimension of constitutional review, the book challenges the contention that high court justices are largely unconstrained actors as well as the notion that constitutional courts lack democratic legitimacy.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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"...Georg Vanberg's book is a welcome addition to the liteature on Germany's Federal Constitutional Court...The virtue of this book is that it builds on the empirical work of comparative judicial scholars...and mainly for the purpose of offering the discipline a more systematic means of measuring the political impact of constitutional courts in both mature and transitional democracies." - Perspectives on Politics, Donald P. Kommers, University of Notre Dame
Book Description
This book investigates the sources and the limits of judicial authority in constitutional courts, focusing on the central role of public support for judicial independence. The book provides an in-depth study of the German Federal Constitutional Court, including statistical analysis of judicial decisions, case studies, and interviews.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A thoughtful study of how judges maintain institutional power,
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This review is from: The Politics of Constitutional Review in Germany (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) (Paperback)
This is a wonderful study of judicial independence - from the judges point of view. Vanberg tries to show that judges require the cooperation cooperation of the other branches of government in order to enforce their rulings, and hence they are vulnerable if elites try to evade the court's decision. Vanberg shows that public opinion can be the crucial link that compels the elite to abide by the court's decision. What I really like about the book is that Vanberg combines game theoretic, statistical, and qualitative methods in making his case. While the sections on Germany did not interest me as much, Vanberg is very good about generalizing his argument so it can be applied anywhere. Highly recommended.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Constitutional review - defined as the power of judicial bodies to set aside ordinary legislative or administrative acts if judges conclude that they conflict with the constitution - has emerged as an almost universal feature of Western-style democracy. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
convergent court, equal chances scheme, party finance law, concrete judicial review, outside political support, relative upper limit, probability that the court, abstract judicial review, judicial selection committee, compliance threshold, judicial veto, veto threshold, guardian vision, evasion attempt, legislative majorities, governing majorities, party taxes, sufficient public support, legislative revision, diffuse support, constitutional review, party foundations, issue under review, constitutional complaints, concrete dispute Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Supreme Court, Basic Law, Second Senate, First Senate, Stone Sweet, Parties Act, United States, Contentious Equilibrium, Eastern Europe, Separation-of-Powers Equilibrium, West Germany, Judicial Self-Censoring Equilibrium, Self-Censoring Equilibria, Constitutional Council, European Defense Community, Parliamentary Council, Alexander Hamilton, European Union, Federal Republic, Federation Council, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Court's Initial Approach, Der Spiegel, East German, New Deal New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Constitutional review - defined as the power of judicial bodies to set aside ordinary legislative or administrative acts if judges conclude that they conflict with the constitution - has emerged as an almost universal feature of Western-style democracy. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
convergent court, equal chances scheme, party finance law, concrete judicial review, outside political support, relative upper limit, probability that the court, abstract judicial review, judicial selection committee, compliance threshold, judicial veto, veto threshold, guardian vision, evasion attempt, legislative majorities, governing majorities, party taxes, sufficient public support, legislative revision, diffuse support, constitutional review, party foundations, issue under review, constitutional complaints, concrete dispute Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Supreme Court, Basic Law, Second Senate, First Senate, Stone Sweet, Parties Act, United States, Contentious Equilibrium, Eastern Europe, Separation-of-Powers Equilibrium, West Germany, Judicial Self-Censoring Equilibrium, Self-Censoring Equilibria, Constitutional Council, European Defense Community, Parliamentary Council, Alexander Hamilton, European Union, Federal Republic, Federation Council, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Court's Initial Approach, Der Spiegel, East German, New Deal New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 79
books:
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9
books
cite this book:
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- The Supreme Court (Know Your Government) by Leon Friedman on page 67, page 174, and Back Matter
- Political Finance (SAGE Electoral Studies Yearbook) by Herbert E. Alexander in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Judicial Activism in Comparative Perspective by Kenneth M. Holland in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics) by Alexander Hamilton on page 140, and Back Matter
- Rationalizing Parliament: Legislative Institutions and Party Politics in France (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by John D. Huber in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 79 books this book cites
- Spreading Democracy and the Rule of Law?: The Impact of EU Enlargemente for the Rule of Law, Democracy and Constitutionalism in Post-Communist Legal Orders by Wojciech Sadurski on page 265
- Delegation and Agency in International Organizations (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by Darren G. Hawkins in Front Matter
- Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by Avner Greif in Back Matter
- Jahrbuch für Handlungs- und Entscheidungstheorie: Band 4: Schwerpunkt Parteienwettbewerb und Wahlen (Jahrbuch für Handlungs- u. Entscheidungstheorie) (German Edition) by Thomas Bräuninger on page 214
- Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions) by Daniel N. Posner in Back Matter
See all 9 books citing this book
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