ABSTRACT
The chapter analyzes the judicialization of human rights protection and recognition in the judicial arena in Latin America. Its purpose is to map the research agendas that derive from this judicial process: enforcement of the law and strengthening international human rights institutions (specifically the Inter-American System); legal responsibility for human rights violations; and social justice for disadvantaged groups. The chapter highlights the traits of each agenda and their intersections. It seeks to shed light on the coincidence of some questions posed by two of the classic topics from the research agenda of the law and society movement: the gap between law on the books and law in practice and the relationship between law and social change (Abel 2010). It discusses the fact that the analysis of judicial powers as arenas has overlooked the study of the consequences that this dynamic has had in the organization of the judicial branch. The latter is proposed here as an emerging research topic in this field, since in Latin America the study of the judicial branch’s influence in human rights protection has been emphasized, sidelining to an extent an exploration of how exercising these functions has impacted the judicial structure itself.
