Dr. Cordula Tibi Weber

How is the behaviour of Latin American high courts in Twitter shaped by different levels of trust and political attacks experienced by the courts? This article shows that courts with lower levels of trust tend to be more active in social media and to produce more self-promotional or educational content than purely informational one.

Mechanisms of social participation help courts to take more inclusive decisions,
gain more trust from the population as well as the support they need in cases of political attacks against their independence and power.

In the last two decades, Latin American high courts engaged in institutional innovations promoting social participation in their judicial decision-making through mechanisms as public hearings or the use of social media. This article theorizes this engagement with the public and it provides a conceptualization of such court engagement and a typology of this engagement.

Today, many state institutions use social media to present their work to a broader audience. Most of them tweet very frequently about different aspects of their activities or broader law topics. In this article, I explore how Latin American high courts use X, former Twitter, and propose potential explanations for their different communication strategies.

ECPR General Conference - Section on "The Politics of Law and Courts", University College, Dublin Dr. Cordula Tibi Weber (Organiser)

The section on "The Politics of Law and Courts" includes 12 panels. Today, courts limit salient government policies, restrict the power of strong executives, and decide on central rules of the political game or on fundamental rights. At the same time, the interest of political actors to hold courts accountable rose, and with it the need of courts to explain their decisions to different audiences and to build trust. This section invites scholars to explore how courts navigate through these challenges.

ECPR General Conference 2024, University College Dublin, Dublin Dr. Cordula Tibi Weber (Chair, Discussant)

Dr. Cordula Tibi Weber is chair and discussant of the panel "International and Regional Courts" at the ECPR 2024.