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

合作研究：司法制度化与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其政府实施有意义的控制。本研究的目的是了解为什么有些法院对公共政策结果施加影响，而另一些则没有。更一般地说，这种影响能通过制度设计来产生吗？或者，法院的影响力是否取决于其他因素，如公众舆论和合法性？研究小组力求确定制度设计应产生更大司法影响的条件。关于制度设计和司法影响力之间的关系，有三种相互竞争的论点，研究小组将使用60个具有宪法管辖权的国家法院的宪法判决数据进行测试。具体来说，研究小组将测试：1）隔离法官的制度是否会增加司法影响力; 2）只有当法院享有足够的公众支持以确保遵守时，隔离法官的制度才会增加影响力; 3）隔离法官的制度与司法影响力无关，因为公众支持取代了它们。这些论点是关于制度设计和司法影响重要性的理论辩论的中心。为了系统地验证这些假设，研究小组将建立一个基于网络的信息系统，以协调各地的数据收集工作，并确保数据具有跨国可比性。这项研究是建立一个可广泛比较、可搜索的多年宪法审查数据库的第一步，该数据库可以真实的实时更新。我们提议的信息系统还有一个额外的好处，那就是为更多的国家和年份的未来数据收集工作提供一个平台。最后，借由更好的了解制度设计，本研究的发现将可直接应用于参与宪法制定的政策制定者。

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.