This chapter is composed of two connected parts. The first part looks at the European Court of Human Rights’ inner workings and the way it functions. Expanding this assessment beyond elected judges, the chapter argues that the Court defines its organizational priorities as a collective body. This collective body includes not only the judges elected for limited terms but also law clerks and other legal professionals at the Registry, most of whom are hired on a permanent basis. This essentially implies that all members of the judicial elite working at the Court contribute to defining the Court’s collective purpose and determining if there is a need for tactical balancing – thus shaping the tendency for forbearance or audacity. The second part offers a historical overview of the Court’s institutional transformation. Created in 1959, the European Court once operated as a part-time institution. The Court then became a full-time institution in 1998; its structure was further refined during the reform processes that officially began with the first High-Level Conference on the Future of the Court in 2010 in Interlaken, Switzerland.

In the United States a democratic impulse, multiple jurisdictions, and varied populations have facilitated corruption. Party machines relied on captive immigrant votes. Elected judges have corrupted the courts all the way to the top. Minority rule and voter suppression are rampant. Expert professionals take advantage of lay clients in finance, auditing, and healthcare. In healthcare doctors are venal and everybody cheats. A trilemma of democracy, governance, and markets cannot be resolved. In Britain, the neoliberal ascendancy relegated bureaucracy in favour of commercial cunning. Performance incentives replaced long-term government careers. Business and bureaucracy intermingle. Public service is hollowed out, diminished, outsourced, and privatised. There is little public benefit and no audit. Politicians and senior civil servants have been implicated in deep corruption. The Reagan–Thatcher revolution failed the public and has worked well for the rich.