The Inter American Court of Human Rights: The Legitimacy of International Courts and Tribunals

This book critically examines the legitimacy of international courts and tribunals, particularly the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). It challenges the notion that the IACtHR is a supranational tribunal with a transformative effect on Latin American democracies. It argues that legal experts studying the legitimacy of the IACtHR enact self-validation processes that reproduce and entrench the mindset that the legal discipline is a driving force of change. The book suggests that ordinary people can mobilise and define the content of law to transform their lives and territories, de-centring the focus away from formal legal institutions.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 214 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This comprehensive book delves into a critical legal examination of the legitimacy of international courts and tribunals, offering a comprehensive critique of two legal approaches that perceive the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) as a supranational tribunal with a transformative impact on the democracies of Latin America. The author explores how the debate between these Latin American legal strands mirrors global trends in the study of the legitimacy of international courts, particularly in the use of constitutional analogies and concepts such as judicial dialogue and democratic transformation. Through an in-depth analysis, the book reveals how legal experts studying the legitimacy of the IACtHR engage in self-validation processes, positioning themselves as the principal agents of transformation. These self-validation processes serve as ideological apparatuses that reinforce the belief that the legal discipline itself is a driving force for change. Furthermore, the book highlights how profiling the Court as an agent of transformation diverts attention from its specific approach to human rights and democracy in the region, which perpetuates and reinforces relations of inequality and domination. Instead of dismissing the IACtHR, the book aims to de-center the focus away from formal legal institutions, engaging with the idea that ordinary people can mobilize and shape the content of law to transform their lives and territories.

This book will be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers in the fields of human rights law, law, public international law, legal theory, constitutional law, political science, and legal philosophy. It provides a deep understanding of the complexities and challenges surrounding the legitimacy of international courts and tribunals, shedding light on the ways in which legal experts and ordinary individuals engage with the law to shape their societies and communities.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032061399