Does Public Support for Judicial Power Depend on Who is in Political Power? Testing a Theory of Partisan Alignment in Africa
Does Public Support for Judicial Power Depend on Who is in Political Power? Testing a Theory of Partisan Alignment in Africa
复制标题
公众对司法权的支持是否取决于谁掌握政治权力？
DOI：
10.1017/s0003055419000704
复制
发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
6.8
通讯作者：
Eric Kramon
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brandon L. Bartels;Eric Kramon
司法权是巩固民主和法治的核心。公众的支持对建立和保护它至关重要。传统智慧认为，这种支持植根于非政治因素，而不是取决于谁在掌权。相比之下，我们认为支持可能是由工具性的党派动机驱动的，因此与党派与行政部门的结盟有关。我们用来自34个非洲国家的调查证据来检验这一论点。为了提供因果证据，我们对加纳自2000年以来的三次总统换届进行了差异分析。在整个非洲，对司法权的支持率很高，而对法院的信任度较低。然而，总统共同党派不太支持对总统的横向司法权力，而更多地支持对人民的垂直权力。这篇文章论证了在形成对司法权力的支持方面，党派与行政部门结盟的重要性，这对司法行为和合法性具有影响。
Judicial power is central to democratic consolidation and the rule of law. Public support is critical for establishing and protecting it. Conventional wisdom holds that this support is rooted in apolitical factors and not dependent on who is in political power. By contrast, we argue that support may be driven by instrumental partisan motivations and therefore linked to partisan alignment with the executive. We test the argument with survey evidence from 34 African countries. To provide causal evidence, we conduct difference-in-differences analyses leveraging Ghana’s three presidential transitions since 2000. Across Africa, support for judicial power is high, while trust in courts is lower. However, presidential co-partisans are less supportive of horizontal judicial power over the president and more supportive of vertical power over the people. The article demonstrates the importance of partisan alignment with the executive in shaping support for judicial power, with implications for judicial behavior and legitimacy.