Lessons Learned in Countering Judicial Backlash and Backsliding

As countries globally face continued erosion of democracy, judicial institutions have been central to this process in many ways. Whether complicit in facilitating the agendas of autocratizing regimes, or targeted as potential checks on expanding executives, or successful in defending rights and rule of law against regressive trends, the courts, prosecutors, and legal institutions charged with protecting a constitutional order have played crucial roles in democratic backsliding. Scholarly research and practical experience have made gains in understanding these dynamics over the last decade, but findings have not spanned all facets of this evolving issue or applied across all contexts and regions experiencing backsliding. This panel seeks to bridge this gap by analyzing institutional dynamics, countries, and contexts that are less addressed in prior scholarship but crucial to understanding judicial roles in democratic backsliding. The panel is especially interested in papers that synthesize lessons learned, fill gaps, or resolve conflicting findings across prior studies to build new research frameworks that advance our collective understanding of these issues.