Ethnic Composition of Constitutional Courts in Ethnically Divided Societies: the cases of the Republic of Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina

This thesis explores the reasons that necessitate the ethnically diverse composition of constitutional courts in ethnically divided societies by reference to consociational democracy. It seeks to contribute to the literature on consociational democracy and judicial diversity by examining how the consociational principle of representation may be used to inform the composition of the senior judiciary in deeply divided societies. In order to support my hypothesis, that judicial diversity of constitutional courts is a necessity in ethnically divided societies, this thesis identifies and critically discusses four reasons. These are the constitutional court’s role in constitutional review cases, public trust in the impartiality of the judiciary, public confidence in the court’s legitimacy and the improvement in decision-making. A key thesis in the present work is the support for the ethnic composition of constitutional courts in ethnically divided societies which are operating under consociational democracy due to the court’s highly important role in the broader political context which render it an important actor of stable democracy and the peace-building process. For the purposes of this thesis, the functioning, composition and the role of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus under the 1960 Constitution, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina under the General Framework Agreement (1995) and the proposed Supreme Court of United Cyprus Republic under the Comprehensive Settlement of the Cyprus Problem (2004) are chosen as case studies. These constitutional courts are examined within their broader political and constitutional context. Using these constitutional courts as case studies and drawing on the analysis of selected constitutional court cases, this thesis argues that the court’s diverse composition is significant and relevant due to its decisions in constitutional review cases which have the potential to contribute to stable democracy and the post-conflict peace-building process, given that public confidence in judicial impartiality and legitimacy is in place.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Kahraman, Ferhun

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shipman, Shirley
• O’Brien, Derek
• Edge, Peter

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/s0qy-gm78

OAI identifier oai:identifier

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