Gebrehiwot, Kahase (2015) The Role of Judiciary in Developmental States: Prospects and Challenges in Ethiopia. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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Abstract
It is a long time and boldly held view that a judiciary characterized by independence and accountability is important in constitutional democracies. The judiciary has also generally been one subject matter of discussion in literatures about law and development. It had been regarded as mere instruments of powerful bureaucracies of classical developmental states to suggest that courts did not enjoy autonomy as a separate and third branch of government in developmental states of second half of the twentieth century. The experiences of successful North East Asian developmental states, however demonstrate that legal institutions including courts can play some important roles for the success of developmental states. Despite the authoritarian nature of their regimes, courts in Japan and South Korean developmental state for instance contributed to their success through; Enhancing efficiency of their bureaucracies, creating economic predictability for the private sector, securing security and order, and socialization of development policies. Ethiopia has declared to pursue democratic developmental state model of development with the aim to facilitate development and deepening democracy. Different challenges with regard to the independence and efficiency of the judiciary and their impact in promoting constitutionalism and democratic governance in Ethiopia are identified by different studies. However, owing to recent emergence of the developmental state discourse, the role of the judiciary for achievements of goals of the developmental state in Ethiopia is not explored. This paper is aimed at filling the gap in that regard. After reviewing literatures on the concept, aims, kinds of developmental states and their varying institutional features and the functions of the judiciary in different forms of governance and development strategies, this paper explores the experiences of three foreign developmental states to draw lessons.. The paper shows that there are opportunities that the judiciary in Ethiopia can contribute some important roles for the success of democratic developmental state. It can help the state in securing stability and order, enhancing efficient and good governance, promoting economic predictability and consolidating political capacity of development oriented political leadership, all necessary elements for democratic developmental state to be successful. The paper also argues that in spite of some prospects for the judiciary to contribute its share in the context of democratic developmental state, there are some major challenges which can hinder its contributions; non-judicial constitutional review, developmental political settlement related problems, absence of comprehensive administrative procedural act, poor working conditions of judges, limited accessibility to judicial proceeding and remedies, and low public perception on the judiciary are the different challenges which this paper argues need attention and remedial action.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Kabiru Wallace Ndung'u |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2019 13:01 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Jun 2019 13:01 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/9305 |
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