Rule of law and judicial systems in the context of democratisation and economic liberalisation: a framework for comparison and analysis in Latin America

Abstract

This paper will discuss the issue of the judicial apparatus and its role in the process of democratisation and state reform in a context of economic liberalisation. I) The paper will identify the importance and relevance of the rule of law in contemporary political processes of democratic consolidation. 2) It will suggest the reasons and pressures behind the growing concern with legal forms and constitutional reform in the region with the process of democratisation. 3) This will be followed by a more detailed assessment of the judicial functions of constitutional and political control, and justice administration in Latin America. The aim here is to highlight some of the problems which confront the new democracies in terms of establishing regimes based on rule of law and constitutional legitimation.