The Myth of the Reluctant Litigant

Haley, John O.

doi:10.4324/9781351126670-5

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Judicial review was rare (Ginsburg ). The legal opportunity structure was also relatively unfavorable: litigation was long and hard, the rewards were uncertain, and neither country permitted class action or suits by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) (Haley ; Yang ). Against the odds, important social movements in both countries mobilized based on rights claims and received cause lawyers’ help, as elaborated below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior to these increases in political competition, societal groups often struggled to influence policy, though some ultimately did. Both states also deterred legal activism by capping the size of the private bar, limiting citizens’ access to legal representation, and maintaining other procedural impediments to litigation (Haley ). Yet similar judicial reforms and changes to legal education in the 1990s aimed to expand access to justice and governmental accountability (Choi and Rokumoto ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cause Lawyering and Movement Tactics: Disability Rights Movements in South Korea and Japan

Arrington

Moon

2020

Law & Policy

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We investigate cause lawyers’ roles in movements for the domestic adoption of international human rights norms. Social movements scholarship often assumes that lawyers will divert activism toward institutional tactics, while the sociolegal studies literature emphasizes that lawyers are active in diverse ways across venues. A paired comparison of antidiscrimination movements in South Korea and Japan reveals how critical junctures in regime history shape the tactical repertoires that cause lawyers bring to their interactions with movement actors, and thus also movement tactics. This research advances scholarship on professionals in social movements, cause lawyers as norm entrepreneurs, and legal mobilization in East Asia.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cause Lawyering and Movement Tactics: Disability Rights Movements in South Korea and Japan

Arrington

Moon

2020

Law & Policy

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“…Legal activism is surprising in light of the hurdles to bringing claims. Japan and Korea historically had legal systems with high cultural and structural impediments to litigation (Haley 1978;Yang 1989). In both countries, quotas on the number of private attorneys limited citizens' access to legal representation, damages were capped, and court proceedings often faced delays.…”

Section: Background: Litigation Over Historical Grievances Against Japanmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mechanisms behind Litigation's “Radiating Effects”: Historical Grievances against Japan

Arrington¹

2019

Law Soc Rev

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Scholars argue that litigation can have positive and negative “radiating” or indirect effects for social movements, irrespective of formal judicial decisions. They see litigation as a dynamic process with distinctive features yet nonetheless intertwined with advocacy in other forums. Litigation can indirectly shape collective identities, reframe debates, or provide political leverage. However, the mechanisms behind these radiating effects are poorly understood. Through an analysis of lawsuits and related activism by Korean survivors of Japanese actions in the first half of the twentieth century, this article disaggregates the mechanisms behind litigation's productive indirect effects. It theorizes and illustrates mechanisms such as attribution of similarity, brokerage, issue dramatization, political cover, and intergroup discussions. These mechanisms help us understand how litigants obtain litigation's indirect effects and thus also the broader impact of postwar compensation lawsuits in East Asia, despite few judicial victories. The article contributes non‐Western and transnational cases to scholarship on litigation's indirect effects.

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“…Numerous scholars have noted how the Japanese state designed institutions and incentives to constrain or utilize societal mobilization (e.g., Garon, 1997; Pekkanen, 2006). Historically, researchers also highlighted cultural and institutional impediments to litigation in Japan and Korea, including state caps on the number of lawyers or on damages (Haley, 1978; Yang, 1989). Outside of East Asia, research indicates that features of the political environment—especially the accessibility of formal institutions, stability of elite power configurations, and availability of elite allies—shape activists’ incentives and expectations of success (e.g., Meyer & Minkoff, 2004).…”

Section: Plaintiffs’ Participation In Legal Mobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hiding in Plain Sight: Pseudonymity and Participation in Legal Mobilization

Arrington

2018

Comparative Political Studies

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How and when do people participate in sustained collective action via the courts? Previous research highlights group identity or resources and political opportunities but overlooks civil procedural rules’ effects beyond the courtroom. This article explores how rules regarding privacy shape individuals’ decisions about sustained participation. Fears of exposing one’s identity deter participation, especially in the context of public trials. Yet, a paired comparison of litigation by victims of hepatitis C-tainted blood products in Japan and Korea reveals that court-supervised privacy protections, which were available in Japan but not in Korea, facilitate plaintiffs’ participation inside and outside the courtroom. They ease plaintiff recruitment and enhance claimants’ credibility. Counterintuitively, they also let claimants strategically shed pseudonymity to send a costly signal about their commitment to the cause. Theorizing “pseudonymous participation” as an understudied mode of activism between full exposure and anonymity demonstrates that seemingly technical aspects of law have significant political consequences.

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The Myth of the Reluctant Litigant

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Cause Lawyering and Movement Tactics: Disability Rights Movements in South Korea and Japan

Cause Lawyering and Movement Tactics: Disability Rights Movements in South Korea and Japan

The Mechanisms behind Litigation's “Radiating Effects”: Historical Grievances against Japan

Hiding in Plain Sight: Pseudonymity and Participation in Legal Mobilization

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