Doctoral Dissertation Research: Do Courts Matter? Institutional Arrangements, Judicial Impact and the Attitude of Brazilian Federal Agencies Toward Court Decisions

本论文项目通过研究巴西联邦行政机构遵守法院判决的情况，有助于理解新民主国家司法和行政部门之间的关系。本研究以健康、社会保障、环境等领域为研究对象，探讨在新的民主体制下，联邦行政机关为何以及在何种条件下遵从法院判决。有人认为，相关因素包括机构的机构特征、争议政策的性质、法院判决的特征（法律的案件类型和意见的明确性）以及该国联邦制度的特征。在方法上，该项目结合了对法律的案件的定量分析，对法官和机构行为者的调查，对机构人员的深入访谈，以及对所分析机构历史的档案工作。大部分的研究包括汇编一个数据库的法律的案件中，机构面临不利的法院判决和深入采访法院和机构的行为人，以评估影响机构的反应的因素。政治学家和法律的学者还没有充分把握法院的影响和制度的历史，在拉丁美洲和新的民主国家。因此，官僚对法院裁决的反应的研究解决了现有文献中的一个主要空白，并通过阐明巴西司法和行政部门之间关系的各个方面，进一步加深了我们对新民主国家如何运作的理解。鉴于人们日益关注司法机构在巩固民主方面的作用，这一研究项目为关于司法政治的辩论以及更广泛地说为拉丁美洲的民主化辩论作出了重要贡献。最后，本研究也将有助于发展一个研究框架，以发展区域和跨区域的司法影响研究，并最终进一步阐明国家行为对民主的影响。

This dissertation project contributes to the understanding of the relationship between judicial and executive branches in new democracies through the study of compliance with court decisions by federal administrative agencies in Brazil. Looking at the areas of health, social security, and the environment, this project investigates why and under what conditions federal administrative agencies in a new democratic regime comply with court decisions. Relevant factors, it is argued, include agencies' institutional characteristics, the nature of the policy in dispute, the characteristics of the court decision - type of legal case and clarity of opinion - and the characteristics of the federal system in the country. Methodologically, the project combines quantitative analysis of legal cases, surveys of judges and agency actors, in-depth interviews with agency personnel, and archival work on the history of the institutions analyzed. The bulk of the research consists of the compilation of a database of legal cases in which agencies faced adverse court decisions and in-depth interviews with court and agency actors to assess factors affecting agency responses.Political scientists and legal scholars have yet to fully grapple with the impact of courts and institutional history in Latin America and new democracies. As such, the study of bureaucratic response to court rulings addresses a major gap in the existing literature and - by illuminating aspects of the relationship between judicial and executive branches in Brazil - furthers our understanding of how new democracies function. Responding to increasing concerns about the role of the judiciary in consolidating democracy, this research project offers important contributions to the debate on judicial politics and, more broadly, to that of democratization in Latin America. Finally, the research will also contribute to the development of a research framework with which to develop regional and cross-regional studies of judicial impact, and ultimately further illuminate the impact of state behavior on democracy.