Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T22:24:30.550Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Judicial Reform in Argentina in The 1990s: How Electoral Incentives Shape Institutional Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Jodi Finkel
Jodi Finkel*
Affiliation:
Loyola Marymount University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Judicial reform presents a paradox: why would a ruling party agree to judicial reforms that limit its own political power? In the Argentine case, I argue that although the ruling Peronist party could be induced in 1994 to initiate reforms (introduce constitutional revisions to strengthen the judiciary), the party then proved unwilling to accept the costs of an independent judiciary and failed to implement these changes (via enactment of congressional legislation). Only once the Peronists believed that they were unlikely to maintain political power did they implement the revised constitution's judicial advancements. Implementation of judicial reform in such a situation may serve the ruling party as an “insurance policy” in which a stronger judicial branch reduces the risks the ruling party faces should it become the opposition. My research suggests that the likelihood of implementation, the crucial determinant of judicial reform, increases as the ruling party's probability of reelection declines.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 56 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press

References

Ames, Barry 1987 Political Survival. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacque, Jorqe 1995 “Corte suprema de justicia de la nación: Cambio de jurisprudencia en materia de derechos individuales.” No Hay Derecho 6 (12): 9–12.Google Scholar
Baglini, Raúl, and D'Ambrosio, Andrés 1993 Juicio a la Corte. Buenos Aires: Baglini and D'Ambrosio.Google Scholar
Balzan, Mario 1993a “El gobierno dice que no inducirá cambios en la Corte Suprema.” El Cronista, November 22, 22.Google Scholar
Balzan, Mario 1993b “Menemistas y Radicales siguen negociando.” El Cronista, September 20, 20.Google Scholar
Bill-Chavez, Rebecca 2003 “The Construction of the Rule of Law in Argentina: A Tale of Two Provinces.” Comparative Politics 35 (4): 417–37. (July).Google Scholar
Caretas 1993 “Carta Magna: El Cuerpo de Delito,” July 1, 16.Google Scholar
Clarín 1993a “Piden renuncias en la Corte Suprema.” November 21, 5.Google Scholar
Clarín 1993b “La UCR admitió que presionó para lograr cambios a la Corte.” December 4, 5.Google Scholar
Clarín 1996 “Polémica Jurídica.” June 4, 2.Google Scholar
Clarín 1997a “La elección: Comicios claves que trascienden la renovación legislativa.” October 25. http://www.clarin.com/. (Accessed February 12, 2000)Google Scholar
Clarín 1997b “Informe electoral.” October 27. http://www.clarin.com/. (Accessed February 12, 2000)Google Scholar
Clarín 1997c “La elección: Es la primera vez que pierde el Peronismo estando en el poder.” October 27. http://www.clarin.com/. (Accessed February 12, 2000)Google Scholar
Finkel, Jodi 2001 “Courting Power in Peru: Explaining Variations in the Implementation of Peru's 1990s Judicial Reforms.” Paper presented at the 97th Annual American Political Science Association Conference, San Francisco, August 30–September 2.Google Scholar
Finkel, Jodi 2003 “Supreme Court Decisions on Electoral Rules after Mexico's 1994 Judicial Reform: An Empowered Court.” Journal of Latin American Studies 35 (4): 777–99. (November).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkel, Jodi n.d. “Judicial Reform as an ‘Insurance Policy’ in 1990s Mexico: A Supreme Court Willing and Able to Enter the Political Fray,” Latin American Politics and Society (forthcoming Spring 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García Belaunde, Domingo 1996 “La reforma del estado en Perú.” La reforma del estado: Estudios comparados. México, DF: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
García Lema, Alberto 1994 La reforma por dentro. Buenos Aires: Planeta.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara 1995 “A Comparative Perspective on the Leninist Legacy in Eastern Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 28 (July): 239–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammergren, Linn 1998 The Politics of Justice and Justice Reform in Latin America. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Helmke, Gretchen 2002 “The Logic of Strategic Defection: Court-Executive Relations in Argentina under Dictatorship and Democracy.” American Political Science Review 96 (2): 291–303. (June).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschl, Ran 2001 “The Political Origins of Judicial Empowerment through Constitutionalization: Lessons from Israel's Constitutional Revolution.” Comparative Politics 33 (3): 315–35. (April).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iaryczower, Matias, Spiller, Pablo, and Tommasi, Mariano 2002 “Judicial Independence in Unstable Environments, Argentina 1935–1998.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (4): 699–716. (October).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inter-American Development Bank 1993 Report on the Reform of the Administration of Justice in Argentina. Unpublished paper. September 6.Google Scholar
La Nación 1993a “Peligra por la Corte el Acuerdo Reformista.” November 22, 1.Google Scholar
La Nación 1993b “El gobierno espera ‘gestos patrióticos’ en la Corte.” November 22, 1.Google Scholar
La Nación 1993c “El gobierno espera ‘gestos patrióticos’ en la Corte,” November 23, 1.Google Scholar
La Nación 1993d “Quedó constituida la Corte Suprema,” December 3, 1.Google Scholar
La Nación 1993e “Aeropuertos: Otro sí al gobierno.” International ed., December 16–22, 4.Google Scholar
La Nación 1995 “El pliego de Vazquez, en lista de espera.” December 1, 18.Google Scholar
La Nación 1996a “Nazareno: No hay que rifar la Corte.” May 8, 8.Google Scholar
La Nación 1996b “Menem se apuraría para nombrar jueces.” May 30, 10.Google Scholar
La Nación 1997 “La Alianza analiza pedir el juicio político,” December 15–19, 8.Google Scholar
Lacana, Mario n.d. Después de la reforma de la constitución. Buenos Aires: Biblioteca del Congreso de la Nación.Google Scholar
Larkins, Christopher 1998 “The Judiciary and Delegative Democracy in Argentina.” Comparative Politics 30 (4): 423–42. (July).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latin American Regional Report-Southern Cone 1997 “Menem Tries to Reassure His Troops.” November 11, 6.Google Scholar
MacKay, Maria Luisa 1993 “Cambiaría el funcionamiento de la Corte como parte del Acuerdo Político.” Clarín, November 17, 4–5.Google Scholar
Molinelli, Guillermo 1999 “La Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación frente a los poderes políticos a traves del control de la constitucionalidad, 1983–1998.” Mimeo. Universidad de Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
North, Douglass 1990 Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oteiza, Eduardo 1994 La Corte Suprema: Entre la justicia sin política y la política sin justicia. La Plata: Librería Editora Platense.Google Scholar
Prillaman, William 2000 The Judiciary and Democratic Decay in Latin America. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Ramseyer, Mark, and Rasmusen, Eric 2003 Measuring Judicial Independence. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, Peter, and O'Brien, David, eds. 2001 Judicial Independence in the Age of Democracy. Charlottesville, NC: University Press of Virginia.Google Scholar
Schedler, Andreas, Diamond, Larry, and Plattner, Marc 1999 The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smulovitz, Catalina 1995 “Constitución y poder judicial en la nueva democracia argentina: La experiencia de las instituciones.” In La nueva matrix política argentina, edited by Carlos Acuña, 71–114. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Nueva Visión.Google Scholar
Stotzky, Irwin, ed. 1993 Transition to Democracy in Latin America: The Role of the Judiciary. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ventura, Adrian 1997 “Aeropuertos: Otro sí al gobierno.” La Nación Internacional, December 22, 4.Google Scholar
Ventura, Adrian 1998a El consejo de la magistratura. Buenos Aires: Depalma.Google Scholar
Ventura, Adrian 1998b “Nazareno decidió convocar al Consejo de la Magistratura.” La Nación, October 14. www.lanacion.com.ar/98/10/14/p10.htm.Google Scholar
Verbitsky, Horacio 1993 Hacer la Corte: La construcción de un poder absoluto sin justicia ni control. Buenos Aires: Planeta.Google Scholar