Judging Policy Courts and Policy Reform in Democratic Brazil [Hardcover]

Courts, like other government institutions, shape public policy. But how are courts drawn into the policy process, and how are patterns of policy debate shaped by the institutional structure of the courts?

Drawing on the experience of the Brazilian federal courts since the transition to democracy,Judging Policyexamines the judiciary's role in public policy debates. During a period of energetic policy reform, the high salience of many policies, combined with the conducive institutional structure of the judiciary, ensured that Brazilian courts would become an important institution at the heart of the policy process. The Brazilian case thus challenges the notion that Latin America's courts have been uniformly pliant or ineffectual, with little impact on politics and policy outcomes.

Judging Policyalso inserts the judiciary into the scholarly debate regarding the extent of presidential control of the policy process in Latin America's largest nation. By analyzing the full Brazilian federal court systemincluding not only the high court, but also trial and appellate courtsthe book develops a framework with cross-national implications for understanding how courts may influence policy actors' political strategies and the distribution of power within political systems.

Matt Taylor's excellentJudging Policygoes well beyond analyzing the role courts play in the policymaking of the largest country in Latin America...Taylor's book represents a remarkable effort to link judicial politics to mainstream political science, and in particular, to policy studies. Judging Policyis the most comprehensive English-language study of the Brazilian courts to date, filling an important gap in our understanding of an increasingly important institution in an increasingly important country. Law and Politics Book ReviewMatthew M. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of S?o Paulo.Winner, 2008 Vitor Nunes Leal lƒ