Constitutional courts as Mediators
This book offers a new theoretical framework for understanding the mediator role played by constitutional courts in democratic conf ict solving. The book proposes an informational theory of constitutional review in which constitutional courts obtain, process, and transmit information to parties in a way that reduces the uncertainty causing their conflict. The sub-stantive focus of the book is the role of constitutional courts in democracies
where the armed forces are f ghting internal armed conf icts of diferent types: Colombia, Peru, and Mexico in Latin America and also Israel,Turkey, and Pakistan. T rough detailed analyses of the political context, civil-military relations, and the constitutional jurisprudence on military autonomy and the regulation of the use of force the book shows that constitutional courts can be instrumental in striking a democratically accepted balance between the exercise of civilian authority and the legitimate needs of the military in its pursuit of order and national security.
Julio Ríos -Figueroa is Associate Professor of Political Science at
CIDE, in Mexico City.
