Judicial independence in illiberal regimes

This dissertation advances our understanding of (partly) independent judges in illiberal regimes. I address the question of how the autocratic executive in an illiberal regime balances costs and benefits of an independent judiciary. I argue that greater judicial independence is compatible with autocrats’ aspiration to control society by limiting judicial independence in key areas and by adapting methods of repression. In three empirical chapters I examine the relationship between these two branches of government. Using new fine-grained measurements and original datasets, primarily from the Philippines, I analyze variation in independence between court types, determinants of the judicial selection process, and the effects of independent judges on state repression. My results point to weaknesses in the judicial merit-selection process and identify the use of extrajudicial killings as strategy to avoid accountability resulting from independent judges.