Tactics of resistance and post-conflict judicial independence

Jessica Maves Braithwaite, Joseph M Cox and Margaret Farry
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Jessica Maves Braithwaite: School of Government and Public Policy, University of Arizona
Joseph M Cox: School of Government and Public Policy, University of Arizona
Margaret Farry: Open Technology Institute, New America

Journal of Peace Research, 2022, vol. 59, issue 6, 779-793

Abstract: Scholars have found that nonviolent resistance is more effective than violence at promoting post-campaign democratization. We explore whether this relationship extends to judicial systems, specifically. Courts have been shown to be important for promoting and protecting economic development and political rights, yet they have been largely ignored in quantitative studies of post-conflict democratization. We posit that leaders who hold power after domestic unrest will be more inclined to use independent courts as a mechanism to prevent future campaigns–but they do so primarily when fearing a significant mobilization threat and when expecting legal action to be an acceptable channel for dispute resolution by dissidents. As such, we anticipate that levels of judicial independence are higher following nonviolent campaigns as compared to violent conflicts. Using quantitative data from violent and nonviolent campaigns globally, we find that judicial independence is indeed higher in the aftermath of nonviolent, as compared to violent, resistance campaigns. Furthermore, a campaign’s outcome does not matter; post-conflict judicial independence appears to be associated with tactics, not dissident success.

Keywords: civil war; courts; democratization; nonviolent civil resistance; post-conflict recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:joupea:v:59:y:2022:i:6:p:779-793

DOI: 10.1177/00223433221076880

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