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Judicial Independence And The Rule Of Law: Lessons From Post-Menem Argentina, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

Argentina, like much of Latin America, has historically been plagued by what some call delegative democracy or a democracy without any developed rule of law. However, the Kirchner Administration has brought a glimmer of hope to the twentieth-first-century Argentine democracy. President Néstor Kirchner was elected in 2003, after what was probably the most serious institutional, financial, and economic crisis in Argentina in recent times. When elected, Kirchner promised to address the perceived lack of independence of the Supreme Court and to restore the rule of law. This paper explains why Kirchner's efforts, without more, will not be enough to (re-)build …