Persuade them or oust them: crafting judicial change and transitional justice in Argentina

Journal article

What explains sea changes in patterns of judicial behavior, such as those associated with the new wave of transitional justice in Latin America? Unlike theories that put emphasis on the causal force of politicians? preferences vis-à-vis truth and justice, or strategic understandings of judicial behavior, this paper argues that deep institutional transformations must occur within judiciaries: cultures of legal interpretation and judicial personnel must change. I argue that in the case of transitional justice, human rights NGOs are the ones that manufacture these transformations via informal pedagogical interventions and personnel turnover strategies. The argument is illustrated with a case study of Argentina, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. The research design takes advantage of internal temporal and geographical variation in judicial outcomes.

Authors: Ocantos, E

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: City University of New York
• Journal: Comparative Politics
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 479-498
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.5129/001041514812522725
• EISSN: 2151-6227
• ISSN: 0010-4159