Judicial “empowerment” through constitutional change: the case of Chilean and Turkish Constitutional Courts

Adopting a historical institutionalist approach, this article examines judicial empowerment through constitutional change in a comparative study of Chile and Turkey. It identifies the historical process by which the judiciary was granted constitutional mechanisms of judicial review and the constitutional courts – Constitutional Tribunal (CT) in Chile and Constitutional Court (CC) in Turkey – were established. Focusing on de jure aspects of judicial empowerment and the historical and ideational context in which these were formulated, it asks why judicial power changes over time and in response to what. Analysing the transformation of constitutional courts in Chile and Turkey, it argues that in both cases the competencies, size and accessibility to the constitutional courts increased, and the appointment mechanisms gave the legislative branch a role partly as a reaction to the de facto powers exercised by the courts.