Overview

Judicial institutions in the new democracies established after the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe have become patterned on a transnational template that maximises judicial empowerment to the detriment of national parliaments. Through the influence of an elite, transnational community of interest, revisions to the judiciary have been implemented with little attention from politicians or the public. As a result, there has been a shift in the role of the judiciary from adjudication under the law towards improvising public policy. Transnational Networks and Elite Self-Empowerment is an inquiry into why and how this could have come about, and what the implications are for democracy.Cristina Parau explores the processes by which the elites have used transnational networks as a means of self-empowerment, and how they have been able to entrench their minority influence within the constitutions of their countries. Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, she builds a strong case through a deep analysis set against and supported by an extensive series of interviews with key political actors. This is a timely reminder of the need to pay attention to our democratic institutions and not to take for granted the foundations on which they are laid.

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9780197266403

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Cristina Elena Parau is currently an Associate Member of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. She held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship and before that other posts to research the politics of the UK constitution; judicial independence in post-Communist CEE; and the rise and influence of post-Communist environmental movements. She has been published in Representation, West European Politics, Europe-Asia Studies, and the Max Planck Institute's Comparative and International Law Series. West European Politics awarded her their Vincent Wright Prize in 2010 for best contribution towards understanding comparative European politics.

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