Staff profile

Dr Raul Sanchez Urribarri

Lecturer

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Social Sciences

Martin Building - Room 457, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

Law (UCAB, Venezuela), LLM (Cambridge), PhD (South Carolina)

Membership of professional associations

American Political Science Association, Law and Society Association, Latin American Studies Association

Area of study

Legal Studies

Brief profile

My teaching and research focus on comparative judicial politics, rule of law issues and judicial reform, using qualitative and quantitative methods. My main goal is to contribute to the recent wave of empirical analyses that seek to assess the conditions that lead to judicial empowerment across different types of political regimes.  I am also interested in the quality of democracy in Latin America, and the rise of social rights litigation in the region.  

Research interests

Law and Society

- Comparative Judicial Politics

- Comparative Law

- Judicial Reform

Teaching units

  • LST2/3DAL - Discrimination and the Law (Tutoring, with Nicola Henry)
  • Fundamental Issues of Legal Studies (Honours Seminar)
  • Law and Development
  • Research Methods for Empirical Analysis in Legal Studies and Politics

Recent publications

  •  “Courts between Democracy and Hybrid Authoritarianism: Evidence from the Venezuelan Supreme Court.” 2011.  Accepted for publication at Law & Social Inquiry (forthcoming, August 2011)
  • “Explaining Changes to Rights Litigation: Testing a Multivariate Model in a Comparative Framework.” With Susanne Schorpp, Kirk A. Randazzo and Donald R. Songer. 2011. The Journal of Politics 73(2), April, 391-405
  • “The Support Structure and Sustained Attention to Rights: A Rejoinder.” With Susanne Schorpp, Kirk A. Randazzo and Donald R. Songer. 2011. The Journal of Politics 73(2), April, 410-411.
  • “Judges and their Loyalties: A Theoretical Approach.” David K. Linnan (Ed.). 2011.  Legitimacy, Legal Development & Change: Law & Modernization Reconsidered. Ashgate (Forthcoming)
  •  “Judicial Research in Risky Political Environments.” 2011. Newsletter of the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. Winter, 11-13
  • “Venezuela – the Left Turning Further Left?” Leftovers: Tales of the Two Latin American Lefts. Jorge Castañeda and Marco Antonio Morales-Barba (Eds.). 2008. London: Routledge, 174-192. Version in Spanish published in 2010 in Lo que Queda de la Izquierda.  Jorge Castañeda and Marco Antonio Morales-Barba (Eds.) Mexico: Taurus
  •  “Characteristics of the Judiciary v. Corruption Perception.” 2008. Sistemas Judiciales, a Journal of the Judicial Studies Center of the Americas. Vol. 13, 88-99
  • “News from the Comparative Realm.” 2007. Newsletter of the Law & Courts Section of the American Political Science Association. (Spring), 11-13

Older publications

  • “Dilemmas of Modernity: Bolivian Encounters with Law and Liberalism, by Mark Goodale.” 2010. Law and Politics Book Review – Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association, 20(3): 100-102
  • “Judges beyond Politics in Democracy and Dictatorship: Lessons from Chile, by Lisa Hilbink.” Latin American Politics & Society. 51(4) (December 2009)
  • “The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics and Economic Development in Egypt, by Tamir Moustafa.” 2008. The Journal of Politics. 70:897-98

Research projects

I am currently working in two main research projects:

  • My central project is a book about  the influence of political connections on judicial decision-making in Latin America, with an emphasis on Costa Rica, Paraguay and Venezuela.  This book is partly based on my doctoral dissertation, ‘Judges and their Loyalties:  Evidence from the Venezuelan Supreme Court’, and will include both quantitative and qualitative assessments of judicial decisions over the course of two decades in each country.
  • I am also co-editing a book about contemporary Venezuelan politics, following the Symposium ‘Venezuela from the Neutral Ground’, held at Tulane University in early 2011.
  • I am also working on research papers about the connection between the quality of the judiciary and corruption; the use of courts by social movements in Latin America; and on patterns of judicial decision-making in Private International Law cases in Common Law and Civil Law countries.