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Do Citizens in Backsliding Democracies Support International Courts' Judicial Power? Evidence from Hungary

  • University of Texas at Dallas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

International courts are increasingly serving as bulwarks of democracy. These courts, however, often depend on the cooperation of the very governments they seek to hold accountable, exposing them to potential retaliation for attempting to constrain their behavior. As governments' response to adverse decision-making is often conditional on public support, we explore whether citizens actually support international courts' judicial power over questions of democracy. We argue that citizens' support for this form of judicial power depends on their democratic values and their desire for institutional checks and balances against the executive. Furthermore, we contest that this support is conditional on partisanship, with this relationship holding for opposition partisans while government partisans are generally opposed to international courts' judicial power. We support our expectations using original survey data collected from Hungary before their 2022 national legislative elections, and examining citizens' support for judicial power for the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)148-165
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Law and Courts
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2025

Keywords

  • Democratic Backsliding
  • European Court of Justice
  • Hungary
  • Judicial Power

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