Courts and Horizontal Accountability in Hybrid Regimes: Judicial Review and the Quality of Democracy

Hybrid regimes exhibit varying degrees of commitment to democracy. Within these regimes, courts play a crucial role in upholding democratic principles by keeping the government accountable to democratic norms. However, the extent to which courts in hybrid regimes consistently adhere to the rule of law remains a critical question. We offer a methodological strategy to examine which judicial behavior model best coincides with judicial behavior in hybrid regimes. We apply our method to the context of Israel’s High Court of Justice’s rulings over the territories Israel occupied in 1967. We show that the Israeli High Court of Justice tends to be strategic in its review of petitions relating to Israel’s Occupied Territories.