Description:
"Why do authoritarian rulers establish special courts? One view is that they do
so to insulate the judiciary from politically oriented cases and allow it contin-
ued, albeit limited, independence. In this article I present a contrary case
study of an authoritarian regime in Burma that used special courts not to
insulate the judiciary but to defeat it. Through comparison to other Asian
cases I suggest that the Burmese regime?s composition and character better
explain its strategy than does extant judicial authority or formal ideology. The
regime consisted of war fighters for whom the courts were enemy territory.
But absent popular support, the regime?s leaders could not embark immedi-
ately on a radical project for legal change that might compromise their hold on
power. Consequently, they used special courts and other strategies to defeat
judicial independence incrementally, until they could displace the professional
judiciary and bring the courts fully under executive control..."
Source/publisher:
Law & Society Review, Volume 45, Number 4 (2011)
Date of Publication:
2011-00-00
Date of entry:
2014-08-18
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
155.56 KB