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A Tale Of Two Maps: The Limits Of Universalism In Comparative Judicial Review, Adam M. Dodek

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

For most of the twentieth century, the dominant paradigm in comparative public law was particularism. This was accompanied by a strong skepticism towards universalist features and possibilities in public law and, especially, constitutional law. With the rise of judicial review after World War I--and especially in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union--comparative judicial review has begun to flourish. However, comparative scholarship on judicial review overemphasizes the centrality of "the question of legitimacy" of judicial review in a democratic polity. This has been a result of the mistaken extrapolation of the American debate over judicial review to other …