Transnational Judicial Dialogue as an Organisational Field

Abstract

Over the last few decades, judges and courts have had an important role in global governance. They also now communicate with each other more than they used to. Scholars have named this phenomenon ‘the transnational judicial dialogue.’ This paper calls for a comprehensive understanding of this judicial dialogue in a way that will explain the influence it has on courts. This paper proposes to use the concept of organisational fields, developed by DiMaggio and Powell, to study the relationships between courts. It will be seen that this concept gives a fuller account of those relationships and their effects than the existing approaches. This paper will first show that the transnational organisational field of the courts is now emerging using the four criteria of structuration. Then, the paper will discuss three examples of how this concept can contribute to the study of transnational relationships between courts.

Early Stages in the Institutionalization of Integrated Project Delivery

“…In theory, the structure and rules of IPD will push organizations in the field to coordinate more than ever before. In turn, this cooperation will “sustain the existing level of structuration and drive towards more structuration” (Frishman, 2013). The diffusion and potential institutionalization of IPD over the next decade represent a window of opportunity to understand these types of institutional effects in a project-based industry.…”

Translating Justice: The International Organization of Constitutional Courts

“…Justices from all around the world interact with each other today much more than before (Law and Chang ), often referred to in the literature as judicial dialogue, community of courts, or transnational organizational field of courts (Frishman ; Ferrarese ; Baudenbacher ). This interaction among justices takes on two forms: citation to foreign law and face‐to‐face interaction between justices from different nations (Law ; Law and Chang ; Slaughter ).…”