Collaborative Research: A Cross-National Study of Judicial Institutionalization and Influence

合作研究：司法制度化和独立性的跨国研究大多数学者认为，在现代民主国家，法院在限制政府方面发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，世界各地的法院往往无法对本国政府进行有意义的控制。这项研究的目的是理解为什么一些法院对公共政策结果施加影响，而另一些法院不这样做。更广泛地说，这种影响可以通过制度设计来诱导吗？或者，法院的影响力程度取决于其他因素，如公众舆论和合法性吗？研究小组试图确定制度设计应该在哪些条件下产生更大的司法影响力。关于体制设计和司法影响力之间的关系有三个相互矛盾的论点，研究小组将利用60个拥有宪法管辖权的国家法院的宪法裁决数据对这些论点进行检验。具体地说，研究团队将测试：1)隔离法官的机构是否会增加司法影响力；2)只有当法院享有足够的公共支持以确保合规时，隔离法官的机构才会增加影响力；3)隔离法官的机构与司法影响力无关，因为公共支持会取代它们。这些争论是关于制度设计和司法影响的重要性的理论辩论的中心。为了系统地检验这些假设，研究小组将建立一个基于网络的信息系统，以协调跨地点的数据收集工作，并确保数据具有跨国可比性。这项研究是建立一个多年来可广泛比较、可搜索的宪法审查数据库的第一步，该数据库可实时更新。我们提议的信息系统的另一个好处是为未来的数据收集工作提供了一个平台，供更多的国家和年份使用。最后，通过更好地理解制度设计，这项研究的发现将直接适用于参与宪法起草的政策制定者。

Collaborative Research: A Cross-National Study of Judicial Institutionalization and IndependenceMost scholars contend that courts play a crucial role in limiting government in modern democracies. Yet, all too frequently, courts around the world fail to exercise meaningful control over their governments. The purpose of this study is to understand why some courts exert influence over public policy outcomes while others do not. More generally, can such influence be induced by institutional design? Or, does a court's degree of influence depend on other factors, such as public opinion and legitimacy?The research team seeks to identify conditions under which institutional design should induce greater judicial influence. There are three competing arguments concerning the relationship between institutional design and judicial influence, which the research team will test using data on constitutional decisions on sixty national courts with constitutional jurisdiction. Specifically, the research team will test whether: 1) institutions that insulate judges increase judicial influence; 2) institutions that insulate judges only increase influence when courts enjoy sufficient public support to ensure compliance; and 3) institutions that insulate judges are irrelevant to judicial influence, because public support substitutes for them. These arguments are at the center of theoretical debates about the importance of institutional design and judicial influence. To systematically test these hypotheses, the research team will build a web-based information system to coordinate data collection efforts across locations, and to ensure that data are comparable cross-nationally.This study is a first step in the process of constructing a broadly comparative, searchable database on constitutional review for a number of years that could be updated in real time. The information system we propose has the added benefit of providing a platform for future data collection efforts, for additional countries and years. Finally, by better understanding institutional design, the findings from this research will be directly applicable to policy makers engaged in constitution writing.