Open AccessRIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT: THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM’S ROLE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Author(s) -
Vivian Maria Pereira Ferreira,
Natalia Langenegger
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
panorama of brazilian law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2318-1516
DOI - 10.17768/pbl.v3i3-4.p394-420
Subject(s) - political science , human rights , democracy , corporate governance , legislature , developing country , mainstream , politics , law and development , public interest , right to development , law and economics , public administration , political economy , law , development studies , economic growth , economics , finance
This article seeks to discuss whether and how the judicial system has been assuming a new institutional role in the design of public policies aimed at promoting of Economical Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) in developing countries. Considering that these rights are crucial for human and social development, the article discusses the ways in which the judicial system might interfere with the process of development.Alongside a theoretical debate, the article presents a functionalist comparative study of the public interest litigation in Brazil, India and South Africa. It focuses on how judges seek to promote ESCR as well as on the benefits and problems of their intervention in public policies created by democratic governments and legislatures.The diagnosis that judicial systems around the world play different roles from the ones recommended by the economic neoliberal mainstream shows that several different institutional arrangements are possible and that some of them might be more adequate to the reality of the developing world. Therefore, the article hopes to provide insights to rethink global governance and the current knowledge on law and political economy from a new paradigm.