Post-communist Chief Justices in Slovakia: From Transmission
Belts to Semi-autonomous Actors?

KOSAŘ, David and Samuel SPÁČ. Post-communist Chief Justices in Slovakia: From Transmission Belts to Semi-autonomous Actors? Hague Journal on the Rule of Law. 2021, vol. 13, No 1, p. 107-142. ISSN 1876-4045. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40803-021-00150-w.

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TY  - JOUR
ID  - 1766636
AU  - Kosař, David - Spáč, Samuel
PY  - 2021
TI  - Post-communist Chief Justices in Slovakia: From Transmission Belts to Semi-autonomous Actors?
JF  - Hague Journal on the Rule of Law
VL  - 13
IS  - 1
SP  - 107-142
EP  - 107-142
SN  - 18764045
KW  - post-communist
KW  - Slovakia
KW  - justices
UR  - https://is.muni.cz/publication/1766636/cs/Post-communist-Chief-Justices-in-Slovakia-From-Transmission-Belts-to-Semi-autonomous-Actors/Kosar-Spac?vysledek=31142
N2  - The aim of this article is to conceptualize the role of Central European (CE) chief justices and explore whether they have managed to become autonomous actors after the fall of communism. We do so by focusing on Slovakia, which was the first country in Central Europe that experienced a semi-authoritarian regime in the mid-1990s, adopted a Euro-model of the judicial council during the EU accession, and features a formally powerful Chief Justice. Based on the analysis of the turnover in Slovak Chief Justices since the 1990s, we argue that Slovak Chief Justices have not become fully autonomous actors, despite the Euro-model of the judicial council and EU membership, as Slovak politicians still consider the position of the Chief Justice strategically important and are willing and able to interfere with them. More specifically, selection of the Chief Justice has become an arena for political battle between external pressures from the politicians and oligarchs and internal sectoral interests from within the judiciary. So far, Slovak political leaders always managed to install their own Chief Justice informally, although they have been challenged by coalitions formed among representatives of the judiciary. This has had severe repercussions for the rule of law in Slovakia, especially during the era of Chief Justice Štefan Harabin. Beyond Slovakia, recent examples of ousting and dismissing chief justices in Hungary and Poland, even if sometimes blocked, show that also in other CE countries some political leaders consider chief justices an important element of their strategy to contain the judiciary and to rule by law. In order to understand this wide-scale problem, we identify seven factors that affect the role of the Chief Justice in the post-communist Europe. This set of factors should encourage others to study Chief Justices from comparative perspective.
ER  -

Basic information
Original name	Post-communist Chief Justices in Slovakia: From Transmission Belts to Semi-autonomous Actors?
Authors	KOSAŘ, David (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Samuel SPÁČ (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution).
Edition	Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 2021, 1876-4045.

Other information
Original language	English
Type of outcome	Article in a journal
Field of Study	50501 Law
Country of publisher	Switzerland
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW	Repozitář MU
Impact factor	Impact factor: 1.682
RIV identification code	RIV/00216224:14220/21:00121552
Organization unit	Faculty of Law
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40803-021-00150-w
UT WoS	000627676100001
Keywords in English	post-communist; Slovakia; justices
Tags	rivok
Tags	International impact, Reviewed
Changed by	Changed by: Mgr. Petra Georgala, učo 32967. Changed: 18/5/2022 13:21.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to conceptualize the role of Central European (CE) chief justices and explore whether they have managed to become autonomous actors after the fall of communism. We do so by focusing on Slovakia, which was the first country in Central Europe that experienced a semi-authoritarian regime in the mid-1990s, adopted a Euro-model of the judicial council during the EU accession, and features a formally powerful Chief Justice. Based on the analysis of the turnover in Slovak Chief Justices since the 1990s, we argue that Slovak Chief Justices have not become fully autonomous actors, despite the Euro-model of the judicial council and EU membership, as Slovak politicians still consider the position of the Chief Justice strategically important and are willing and able to interfere with them. More specifically, selection of the Chief Justice has become an arena for political battle between external pressures from the politicians and oligarchs and internal sectoral interests from within the judiciary. So far, Slovak political leaders always managed to install their own Chief Justice informally, although they have been challenged by coalitions formed among representatives of the judiciary. This has had severe repercussions for the rule of law in Slovakia, especially during the era of Chief Justice Štefan Harabin. Beyond Slovakia, recent examples of ousting and dismissing chief justices in Hungary and Poland, even if sometimes blocked, show that also in other CE countries some political leaders consider chief justices an important element of their strategy to contain the judiciary and to rule by law. In order to understand this wide-scale problem, we identify seven factors that affect the role of the Chief Justice in the post-communist Europe. This set of factors should encourage others to study Chief Justices from comparative perspective.

Links
46943, interní kód MU	Name: JUDI-ARCH - The Rise of Judicial Self-Government in Europe: Changing the Architecture of Separation of Powers without an Architect (Acronym: JUDI-ARCH)
46943, interní kód MU	Investor: European Union, ERC (Excellent Science)

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Post-communist Chief Justices in Slovakia: From Transmission Belts to Semi-autonomous Actors?

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