Political Transition, Social Development, and Legal Mobilization in Spain

While it has been frequently asserted that the use of courts is responsive to political and social contexts, the evidence is inconclusive at best. In the case of political context the dearth of evidence may reflect focusing on the U.S. case, where there is relatively limited variation in relevant ch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American political science review 1989-09, Vol.83 (3), p.817-833
Main Authors: Giles, Micheal W., Lancaster, Thomas D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Authoritarianism
Change
Courts
Democracy
Economic development
Economic growth
Economic growth rate
Economic transitions
Gross domestic product
Jurisdiction
Law
LAW AND LEGAL SYSTEMS
Litigation
Political change
Political conflict
Political science
POLITICAL STABILITY, INSTABILITY, & CHANGE
Politics
SOCIAL CHANGE
Social development
Sociology
SPAIN
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:While it has been frequently asserted that the use of courts is responsive to political and social contexts, the evidence is inconclusive at best. In the case of political context the dearth of evidence may reflect focusing on the U.S. case, where there is relatively limited variation in relevant characteristics. In the case of social context it may reflect a failure to focus on periods of substantial transition. In the present study we examine court usage in Spain between 1960 and 1980. During this period Spain experienced rapid economic growth with its attendant social change and dramatic political transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Both the movement toward democracy and social development are found to be positively linked to increases in legal mobilization.
ISSN:0003-0554
1537-5943
DOI:10.2307/1962062