The Judicialization of Politics in Asia

Abstract

As judicial review has expanded in Asia during the last quarter century, new studies have emerged that seek to move beyond the traditional scholarly approach to the region to draw attention to judicial review from a more political perspective. Surveying this literature, this article addresses three central questions that have recently arisen: (1) What is driving countries in the region to adopt judicial review? (2) Under what conditions do courts exert these new powers assertively-and successfully? (3) Now that they are empowered, how do judges decide cases as they do, and what forces, other than an independent judgement on how the law applies to the facts before the court, are likely to influence their decisions? Arguing that the region poses considerable challenges to current models, the article also draws attention to recent scholarly analyses of the informal dynamics of judicial politics, some of which take a distinct relational approach that seems well suited to a better understanding of how judicial review operates in this diverse, dynamic, region. 2

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