Ouvrage en collaboration
| Résumé : | This book is an attempt to improve our understanding on the post-communist transformations by focusing on a particular and media related topic: the judicial reforms in Central and Eastern European countries and in the Balkans. Judicial reforms are many-faceted processes. The book is focused on the establishment of new borders between law and politics in the post-communist democracies, particular attention being paid to the judicial independence. Looking at understanding the policy change or policy continuity in this field, the various chapters test hypotheses derived from different branches of the political science literature or sociology (transitology, Europeanization, public policy, the international legal transfers….). Detailed case studies on Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania and Poland illustrate how, and to what extent, the legislative processes related to the judicial independence have been placed under the influence of domestic or external drivers of change. With a critical analysis of the concept of judicial independence, the case studies presented in this book examine the role of the external actors such as the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European and American experts involved in the (re)shaping of new judicial institutions in these countries, as well as the role of the domestic actors, political parties, the professional associations of magistrates, the NGOs or the judicial institutions. Judicial reforms take place in a broader social and political context in Central and Eastern European countries. By analysing theses issues the authors do not neglect the EU enlargement process and the related conditionality, the promotion of the rule of law, the development of the civil society or the process of the State rebuilding in these countries. Written for a broad audience, practitioners or scholars, the book is also addressed and recommended for use in graduate courses in sociology, political science and law. |
