Ceci Da Supastar

A research topic I’ve been playing with in my mind for some time now…

While the debate on institutional design in developing democracies is often centered on presidential versus parliamentary forms of government (think the great Linz vs Mainwaring exchange), the court system often goes ignored. Any mention of the supreme court is largely absent from most institutional studies in the Philippines, including the Cha-Cha debate. In other countries (especially the US) the Court has been the major protector of individual rights and (especially now) attempts by the executive to expand his powers. Given the state of human rights abuses and an almost unchecked president in the Philippines, the Supreme Court may be an untapped source of hope…

Update:

July 11, 2008

As I was going through old writings searching for a short writing sample to send to potential employers, I went back to this paper. Low and behold, there were a plethora of typographical and grammatical errors (the result of getting excited about the idea and punching it out in under 2 hours and then rushing off to a meeting and not proof-reading). So, here is the edited, properly cited version with some recent updates.

The Evolving Role of the Philippine Supreme Court (Updated June 2008)