Replication data for: Testing the Effects of Independent Judiciaries on Democratic Backsliding. American Journal of Political Science. 55(3):696-709. 2011.

We test the efficacy of judicial independence in preventing regime reversals toward authoritarianism. Using a dataset of judicial constraints across 163 different countries from 1960 to 2000, we find that established independent judiciaries prevent regime changes toward authoritarianism across all types of states. Established courts are also capable of thwarting regime collapses in nondemocracies. These results provide some of the first large-n evidence confirming the ability of the judiciary to maintain regime stability. Unfortunately, however, the beneficial effects of court systems seem to take time to develop. The evidence indicates that newly formed courts are positively associated with regime collapses in both democracies and nondemocracies.

本研究检验了司法独立在防范政权向威权主义倒退方面的功效。基于1960年至2000年覆盖163个国家的司法约束数据集，本研究发现，成熟的独立司法机构能够阻止各类国家的政权向威权主义转变；成熟的司法体系同样能够遏制非民主国家的政权崩溃。本研究结果为司法体系维护政权稳定的能力提供了首批大样本实证证据之一。然而遗憾的是，司法体系的积极效应似乎需要时间方能显现：实证结果表明，新设司法机构与民主及非民主国家的政权崩溃均呈正相关关系。