Fiona Shen-Bayh Featured on VoxDevTalks to Discuss Courts in the Global South

Associate Professor Fiona Shen-Bayh recently appeared on VoxDevTalks, a podcast that features research on global development and public policy, to discuss her latest research on how courts function in the Global South and why conventional measures of judicial fairness do not always reflect local political realities.

The conversation is based on Shen-Bayh's recent review article, "Courts in the Global South," published in the Annual Review of Political Science and co-authored with Julio Ríos-Figueroa. The article examines how courts function in countries where state institutions are often weaker, political systems are less stable, and legal systems operate under very different conditions than those found in Western democracies.

During the interview, Shen-Bayh explains that conventional measures of judicial fairness—such as impartiality, neutrality, and consistency—were largely developed from the experiences of North American and Western European democracies. While these principles remain important, she argues they do not always reflect how justice is administered in many parts of the Global South.

During the conversation, Shen-Bayh discusses how courts operate in a variety of political settings, including customary justice systems, authoritarian governments, and emerging democracies. She also explains why understanding local political and social conditions is essential when evaluating judicial systems across the Global South.

Listen to the full conversation on VoxDevTalks

Published on Thu, 07/23/2026 - 11:47