The Causes of Judicial Independence

Author: Jamison Burke

Field of Study: History

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Wendy Martinek

Easel: 78

Timeslot: Midday

Abstract: Judicial independence can be observed varying between the nations of the world. While previous scholarship mainly focuses on the effects of judicial independence, this paper aims to study the effects that other factors have on a given state’s level of judicial independence. Hypothesizing that levels of democracy and economic development positively correlate with judicial independence, this paper measures judicial independence across 117 countries using the World Justice Report Rule of Law Index. Data concerning each individual country’s level of democracy and economic development will be synthesized in this paper and is expected to find positive correlation between democracy, development, and judicial independence. Judicial independence is recognized as a cornerstone of democracy, and as it wavers in the modern United States, a better scholarly understanding of the phenomenon is needed now more than ever.