Dissertation
My dissertation examines state courts in Latin America’s two largest democracies, Brazil and Mexico. Recognizing the vital role of strong courts and the rule of law for both the quality of democracy and smooth functioning of markets, the dissertation seeks to explain the uneven strength and performance of subnational judiciaries. Building on existing research regarding the political origins of institutional choice and performance, I sequence quantitative and qualitative methods to enhance the validity of conclusions. First, court budgets operate as a proxy for judicial strength in time-series cross-section analyses in each country from 1993 to 2007. These analyses identify the positive effect of competitive elections and of new, left-of-center administrations in the post-authoritarian trajectories of both countries. Subsequently, quantitative tools for case selection identify typical, well-predicted observations, and build a “most similar” qualitative research design around these observations, nesting three case studies in each country within the econometric analysis. Finally, drawing on archival research and more than 100 personal interviews with judges and other legal elites, the qualitative analysis offers a more textured complement to the statistical analysis, extending the theoretical framework to other measures of judicial strength, including institutional design, career structure, and an examination of court performance across different types of litigation. The qualitative results support the conclusion that competition, especially from the left, enhances the resource strength, design, administrative capacity, and performance of judicial institutions. Beyond supporting the quantitative results, however, the case studies contribute new theoretical insights and clarify mechanisms and motivations shaping the judiciary in new democracies.
Other Projects (see also Datasets and Papers)
Armed Conflict in Democracies:
"Peace by Design: Institutional Choices and Armed Conflict in Democracies, 1975-1999." (Under revision)
International Relations Theory:
"Rationalism and Constructivism: Analytic Frameworks and the Promise of Integration." (Under revision)