The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective - Softcover

Epp, Charles R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226211622 ISBN 13: 9780226211626

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1998

Synopsis

It is well known that the scope of individual rights has expanded dramatically in the United States over the last half-century. Less well known is that other countries have experienced "rights revolutions" as well. Charles R. Epp argues that, far from being the fruit of an activist judiciary, the ascendancy of civil rights and liberties has rested on the democratization of access to the courts—the influence of advocacy groups, the establishment of governmental enforcement agencies, the growth of financial and legal resources for ordinary citizens, and the strategic planning of grass roots organizations. In other words, the shift in the rights of individuals is best understood as a "bottom up," rather than a "top down," phenomenon.

The Rights Revolution is the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the growth of civil rights, examining the high courts of the United States, Britain, Canada, and India within their specific constitutional and cultural contexts. It brilliantly revises our understanding of the relationship between courts and social change.

About this title

About the Author:

Charles R. Epp is professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. He is the author of several books.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0226211622
• ISBN 13: 9780226211626
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342