IPSA RC09 Interim Meeting: Court Roles in the Current Authoritarian Moment

The Comparative Judicial Studies Research Committee (RC09) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) will convene an international workshop on Court Roles in the Current Authoritarian Moment. The workshop will be held on 15-16 October 2026 at the Institute for Legal Research (Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, IIJ) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM). Theme Courts play an indispensable role in democratic governance-and perhaps even more so when it's under threat. As democracies globally face increasing risks to democracy, war, strained governance capacity, and social upheaval, courts too face new challenges in seeking to preserve and advance the rule of law and democratic constitutionalism more broadly. This workshop convenes scholars from around the world to discuss current research on these pressing issues, fostering comparative analysis and collaboration across regions and disciplines. Papers adopting diverse disciplinary perspectives on the study of judicial systems, as well as innovative methodological approaches, are especially encouraged. We welcome proposals on a range of topics related to comparative judicial studies, including but not limited to: Courts and democratic erosion Courts in newly authoritarian contexts Rule of law and war Judicial independence in fragile states Asymmetries of power between public and private actors Backlash against women's and minority rights Gender and courts in times of democratic backsliding Courts and migration flows Rule of law in microstates Judicial reform strategies Concepts and methods of the rule of law LLMs in comparative judicial studies Format We invite proposals for individual papers and fully-formed panels on these or similar topics from scholars, policymakers, practitioners, jurists, and others working in varied disciplines and regions of the world. Fully-formed panels must include a panel chair and 3-4 paper pr...