S/P/57. ‘The expansion of judicial power in contemporary liberal democracies produces more liberalism at the expense of less democracy’. Discuss.

This paper examines the assumption that there has been an increase in judicial power and that this alone is the reason for greater liberalism and less democracy in policy-making. It argues that empirical evidence attempting to show the impact of increased judicialisation is not convincing and the root causes of it do not entirely support the claim. Furthermore, structural factors beyond an increase in judicial power are necessary to bring about the greater levels of liberalism. A discussion of these structural factors, such as rights consciousness, the nature of the country’s legal system and public support is taken in the context of both typical liberal democracies and Latin American cases.