Nauman Reayat is Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, University of Leicester, United Kingdom. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Economic Social Research Council at the School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, United Kingdom. His research interests include comparative judicial politics, judicial independence, and the rule of law in authoritarian states and developing democracies.Rhona K.M. Smith is Professor of International Human Rights at Newcastle University, United Kingdom. From 2015-2021, she served the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia.Moohyung Cho is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ewha Womans University, South Korea. His research interests include comparative judicial politics, specifically judicial independence and the rule of law in authoritarian regimes and developing democracies.

• Introduction; Part I. De Facto Judicial Independence; 1. Judicial Independence in Hybrid Regimes: A Comparison between Bangladesh and Pakistan; 2. Party System Institutionalization, Political Competition and Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies: Evidence from South Korea and the Philippines; 3. Undermining Judicial Independence: Chief Justices and Political Alignment in Mexico's Judicial Politics; 4. The Weakening Judicial Independence through the Transition from the Judicialization of Politics to the Politicisation of Judiciary: Turkish Case; 5. Independence and Autonomy – Means towards Ends: How Misconceived Independence Created an Isolated Judiciary in Slovakia; 6. Strengthening De Facto Judicial Independence in Cambodia: Articulating a Human Rights-based Approach; Part II. Theoretical and Conceptual Discussion; 7. Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in Developing Democracies; 8. The Role of the Separation of Powers in Preventing Arbitrariness; Part III. De Jure Judicial Independence; 9. The Judiciaries in Africa at Crossroads: Can they Counter the Wave of Authoritarian Resurgence?; 10. Judicial Independence in the Asia Pacific Region from the Perspective of Comparative Judicial Politics; 11. Judicial Independence in Iraq: Jurisdictional Conflicts between the Higher Judicial Council and the Federal Supreme Court; 12. Judicial Independence in Chile, 1973-2023; 13. Constitutional Design as an Enabler of Peace: Colombia and its Constitutional Reform of 1991; Conclusion: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies

Nauman Reayat is Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, University of Leicester, United Kingdom. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Economic Social Research Council at the School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, United Kingdom. His research interests include comparative judicial politics, judicial independence, and the rule of law in authoritarian states and developing democracies.Rhona K.M. Smith is Professor of International Human Rights at Newcastle University, United Kingdom. From 2015-2021, she served the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia.Moohyung Cho is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ewha Womans University, South Korea. His research interests include comparative judicial politics, specifically judicial independence and the rule of law in authoritarian regimes and developing democracies.

• Introduction; Part I. De Facto Judicial Independence; 1. Judicial Independence in Hybrid Regimes: A Comparison between Bangladesh and Pakistan; 2. Party System Institutionalization, Political Competition and Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies: Evidence from South Korea and the Philippines; 3. Undermining Judicial Independence: Chief Justices and Political Alignment in Mexico's Judicial Politics; 4. The Weakening Judicial Independence through the Transition from the Judicialization of Politics to the Politicisation of Judiciary: Turkish Case; 5. Independence and Autonomy – Means towards Ends: How Misconceived Independence Created an Isolated Judiciary in Slovakia; 6. Strengthening De Facto Judicial Independence in Cambodia: Articulating a Human Rights-based Approach; Part II. Theoretical and Conceptual Discussion; 7. Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in Developing Democracies; 8. The Role of the Separation of Powers in Preventing Arbitrariness; Part III. De Jure Judicial Independence; 9. The Judiciaries in Africa at Crossroads: Can they Counter the Wave of Authoritarian Resurgence?; 10. Judicial Independence in the Asia Pacific Region from the Perspective of Comparative Judicial Politics; 11. Judicial Independence in Iraq: Jurisdictional Conflicts between the Higher Judicial Council and the Federal Supreme Court; 12. Judicial Independence in Chile, 1973-2023; 13. Constitutional Design as an Enabler of Peace: Colombia and its Constitutional Reform of 1991; Conclusion: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies