Over the last two decades courts have become major players in the political landscape in Asia. This book assesses what is driving this apparent trend toward judicialization in the region. It looks at the variations within the judicialization trend, and how these variations affect political practice and policy outcomes. The book goes on to examine how this new trend is affecting aspects of the rule of law, democratic governance and state-society relations. It investigates how the experiences in Asia add to the debate on the judicialization of politics globally; in particular how judicial behaviour in Asia differs from that in the West, and the implications of the differences on the theoretical debate.
1. The Judicialization of Politics in Asia: Towards a Framework of Analysis Björn Dressel Part 1: Established Democracies 2. The Judicialization of Japanese Politics? Tom Ginsburg and Tokujin Matsudaira 3. Causes and Conditions for Sustainable Judicialization of Politics in Korea Jongcheol Kim and Jonghyun Park 4. The Judiciary, Policy, and Politics in India Shylashri Shankar Part 2: Fragile and Young Democracies 5. Thailand: Judicialization of Politics or Politicization of the Judiciary? Björn Dressel 6. Indonesia's Constitutional Court: Conservative Activist or Strategic Operator? Simon Butt 7. From Judicialization to Politicization of the Judiciary: The Philippine Case Alejandro N. Cienca 8. The Judicialization of Politics in Pakistan Charles Kennedy Part 3: Authoritarian and Semi-Authoritarian Settings 9. China's Supreme People's Court within the "Political-Legal System" Shumei Hou and Ron Keith 10. Cambodia's Judiciary: Heading for Political Judicialization? Kheang Un and Sokbunthoeun So 11. Malaysia: Limited and Intermittent Judicialization of Politics Chandra Kanagasabai 12. Leadership, Law, and Legitimacy: Reflections on the Changing Nature of Judicial Politics in Asia Haig Patapan
Biography
Björn Dressel is a Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU), Australia.