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This article proposes a relational approach to studying judicial politics in non-Western societies—a framework for the systematic analysis of informal relations between judges and other actors, within and outside the judiciary, based on common political interests, ideas, social identity, and even clientelistic obligations. We reflect on how these relations might help explain a variety of outcomes of interest, such as the organization of courts, judicial behavior, and judicial reform. We also highlight some of the methodological challenges of this approach in collecting and analyzing comparative data. In doing so, we seek to build an agenda for research on informal judicial politics beyond Western democracies.

Democracy in the Philippines is a paradox. It was the first country in the region to topple authoritarian rule. Signs of a vibrant democracy are extensive: high voter turnout, civic engagement, institutional arrangements that theoretically promote accountability and safeguard rights and liberties. Yet the flaws in the democratic process are also extensive: elite dominance, institutional weakness, and widespread abuse of public office, which suggest true representation is largely illusory. Concerns about the quality of democracy have become central to political discourse in the Philippines, as seen in debates about constitutional reform and the hopes associated with the election of reform candidate Benigno Aquino III as president in 2010. This analysis examines how oligarchic structures and dysfunctional institutions threaten the emergence of true democracy in the Philippines.

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In 1997 Thailand drafted its much-vaunted "People's Constitution" 1 which many observers saw as a watershed event in Thailand's