Abstract

INCLAN, Silvia  and  INCLAN, María. Las reformas judiciales en América Latina y la rendición de cuentas del Estado. Perf. latinoam. [online]. 2005, vol.12, n.26, pp.55-82. ISSN 0188-7653.

This paper studies the implications on state accountability of recent judicial reform efforts made by Latin American countries to grant their judicial branches increased independence. The aim of this paper is to further understand the extent to which judicial reforms influence the submission of the state to the law and democratic consolidation. It offers a regression analysis of the effects of reforms in thirteen reforming and ten non-reforming countries on horizontal and vertical accountability over a 29-year period (1973-2001) using indicators by the Polity Project IV. Drawing on its results, this paper argues that the introduction of constitutional safeguards for judicial independence brought about by the reforms has had a positive and significant effect in enhancing state accountability.

Keywords : judicial reform; judicial independence; accountability; executive constraints; competitiveness of participation; Latin America; democratic consolidation; democratic institution building.

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