Project description
How judges shape democracy outside the courtroom
Courts speak through their rulings. Yet, much of a judge’s real power is wielded far from the bench, in keynote speeches, private commissions, diplomatic circles, and quiet interventions that never appear in a legal transcript. In fragile democracies, these ‘off-bench’ activities shape public trust and the rule of law. The ERC-funded Off-Bench project aims to investigate what judges do in their downtime and why it matters. Specifically, it will study the situation in Kenya and Zambia, alongside comparative work across five other countries. The findings are expected to shed light on the role of judges as influential political actors whose reach extends deep into the fabric of society.
Objective
Off-Bench adopts an innovative approach to the study of judges and judicial politics. Rather than focusing on judicial rulings (the mainstay of academic study) it undertakes the first systematic study of what judges do outside of their courtrooms as part of their official duties and public engagements (hereon off-bench activities), why, and with what impact. This politics project adopts this approach for five reasons: off-bench activities are inherently political; judges engage in a wider range of off-bench activities than has hitherto been recognised; what judges do off-bench is highly revealing of their role understandings; what judges do off-bench matters for the roles that they play both on and off the bench; and judges are critical political actors who can help to promote or undermine the rule of law, accountability, and human rights. The project focuses on contemporary Africa as a most likely case for such off-bench significance and to build theory from the Global South. To facilitate the complex mix of qualitative and quantitative research required to map and then analyse off-bench activities the project will undertake extensive research in two countries. Kenya and Zambia are selected as most similar cases that display different levels of off-bench activism and judicial independence. To test theory developed and evaluate the broader applicability of findings the project will conduct additional research in five ancillary cases – Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda – selected for differences in levels of authoritarianism, conflict, and off-bench activities, and common and civil law traditions. This ambitious project will transform how we study and understand the political role, strategies, and significance of this critical democratic actor and make ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of African politics, institutional theory, and role of performance in politics and inform and enhance judicial reform and democracy support efforts.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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CV4 8UW COVENTRY
United Kingdom
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