Fighting for Political Freedom Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism

by Halliday, Terence C.; Karpik, Lucien; Feeley, Malcolm M.

• ISBN13: 9781841137674
• ISBN10: 1841137677
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-18
• Publisher: Hart Publishing

Summary

Across the world political liberalism is being fought for, consolidated and defended. That is the case for nations that have never enjoyed a liberal political society, for nations that have advanced towards and then retreated from political liberalism, for nations that have recently shifted from authoritarian to liberal political systems, and for mature democracies facing terrorism and domestic conflict.This book tests for the contemporary world the proposition that lawyers are active agents in the construction of liberal political regimes. It examines the efficacy of a framework that postulates that legal professions not only orient themselves to a market for their services but can frequently be seen in the forefront of actors seeking to institutionalise political liberalism. On the basis of some 16 case studies from across the world, the authors present a theoretical link between lawyers and political liberalism having wide-ranging application over radically diverse situations in Asia and the Middle East, North and South America, and Europe. They argue that it is not the politics of lawyers alone but the politics of a 'legal complex' of legally trained occupations, centred on lawyers and judges, that drives advances or retreats from political liberalism, that political liberalism itself is everywhere in play, in countries with established democracies and those without liberal politics and that it is now clear that the legal arena is a central field of struggle over the shape of political power. The case studies presented here provide powerful evidence that the nexus of bar and bench in transitions towards or away from political liberalism is a force which has universal application.

Author Biography

Terence C Halliday is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation in Chicago.
Malcolm M. Feeley is Claire Sanders Clements Dean's Chair Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.
Lucien Karpik is at the Ecole des Mines, Centre Raymond Aron (EHESS), Paris.

Table of Contents

The Legal Complex and Struggles for Political Liberalism	p. 1
Asia
Law and the Liberal Transformation of the Northeast Asian Legal Complex in Korea and Taiwan	p. 43
Birth of a Liberal Moment? Looking Through a One-Way Mirror at Lawyers' Defence of Criminal Defendants in China	p. 65
'Dissolving the People': Capitalism, Law and Democracy in Hong Kong	p. 109
The State, Civil Society, and the Legal Complex in Modern Japan: Continuity and Change	p. 151
Middle East
Mobilising the Law in an Authoritarian State: The Legal Complex in Contemporary Egypt	p. 193
Reluctantly Sailing Towards Political Liberalism: The Political Role of the Judiciary in Turkey	p. 219
The Ambivalent Language of Lawyers in Israel: Liberal Politics, Economic Liberalism, Silence and Dissent	p. 247
The Americas
The Legal Complex and the Response to Police Violence in South America	p. 281
When the 'Political Complex' takes the Lead: The Configuration of a Moderate State in Chile	p. 315
Lawyers and Political Liberalism in Venezuela	p. 345
Contesting Legality in the United States after September 11	p. 361
Europe
Politicising Law to Liberalise Politics: Anti-Francoist Judges and Prosecutors in Spain's Democratic Transition	p. 403
Lawyers and Statist Liberalism in Italy	p. 439
Political Lawyers	p. 463
Index	p. 495
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