Beyond High Courts

Matthew C. Ingram is associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He is the author of Crafting Courts in New Democracies: The Politics of Subnational Judicial Reform in Brazil and Mexico.Diana Kapiszewski is associate professor of government at Georgetown University. She is author, co-editor, and co-author of a number of books, including High Courts and Economic Governance in Argentina and Brazil.

"The most important contribution of Beyond High Courts is shedding light on fascinating institutions that have received, quite undeservedly, little scholarly attention. In addition, these remarkable chapters offer interesting analytical and theoretical lessons. Readers from different disciplines that are interested in law and courts or socio-legal studies will find many gems in each chapter included within this edited volume." —Bulletin of Latin American Research"As a researcher and teacher in comparative judicial politics, it is exciting to see a new work on non-peak judicial institutions. Beyond High Courts: The Justice Complex in Latin America makes an important contribution to the field. The contributors address a clear set of questions across an array of judicial actors in Latin America. The volume contains comparative and single country case studies and helps to fill both empirical and theoretical gaps in the literature on comparative judicial politics." —Druscilla Scribner, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh"As is true in most of the democratic world, justice institutions in Latin America other than the Supreme Court are important yet understudied. Beyond High Courts: The Justice Complex in Latin America is an excellent contribution that helps address that lacuna." —Scott Mainwaring, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor of Brazil Studies, Harvard Kennedy School"Matthew Ingram and Diana Kapiszewski persuasively set out to design a new agenda in the study of judicial institutions in Latin America. The volume is aimed at political science students and those particularly interested in institutional configuration and design. It will also appeal to scholars and students of comparative law and other social science fields, because it provides rich descriptions and background information about little understood judicial institutions." —Lydia Brashear Tiede, University of Houston

• List of Figures and Tables1. Introduction: Beyond High Courts by Matthew C. Ingram and Diana Kapiszewski2. Reforms to the Public Prosecutor's Office in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico: The Role of Justice Sector Interest Groups by Azul A. Aguiar-Aguilar3. Operationalizing and Measuring Prosecutorial Independence: The Brazilian Case by Ernani Carvalho and Natália Leitão4. Public Defense and Access to Justice in a Federal Context: Who Gets What, and How, in the Argentinean Provinces by Catalina Smulovitz5. Judging Elections: Electoral Courts and Democracy in Latin America's Federal Systems by Diana Kapiszewski, John Seth Alexander, and Robert Nyenhuis6. The Electoral Court and Party Politics in Brazil by Sídia Maria Porto Lima7. Watching the Watchmen: The Role of the Brazilian Supreme Court's Chief Justice in Checking Lower Court Activism by José Mário Wanderley Gomes Neto, Ernani Carvalho, Danilo Pacheco Fernandes, and Louise Dantas de Andrade8. Judicial Councils in Mexico: Design, Roles, and Origins at the National and Subnational Levels by Matthew C. Ingram9. Transnational Protection of Human Rights in Latin America by Mary L. Volcansek and Matthew C. Ingram10. Comparative Law and Courts Studies: Some Reflections and Directions by Martin ShapiroList of ContributorsIndex