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“Constrained” Constitutional Courts as Conduits for Democratic Consolidation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Nancy Maveety  and
Anke Grosskopf
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Abstract

Many constitutional courts, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, have more power than the “constrained court” model of judicial decisionmaking suggests because they operate in an increasingly international environment. By analyzing the Estonian Supreme Court's adjudication of minority linguistic rights, we show how even a new court can act as a “conduit” for democratic reform by identifying for legislators national constitutional paths along which domestically disliked but internationally defined democratic reforms can be pursued, preserving national integrity while acknowledging international reality. International pressures, while constraining courts, thus can free them from national constraints while allowing them to imprint their own vision.

Type
Constitutional Articulations
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 463 - 488
Copyright
© 2004 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Ringa Raudla of Tartu University for her assistance with the translation of the Riigikogu legislative record.

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