Toward a strategic revolution in judicial politics: A look back, a look ahead

As papers presented at recent disciplinary conferences and articles publish ed in major political science journals reveal, the field of judicial politi cs is undergoing a sea change. Variants of the social-psychological paradig m, which have long dominated thinking about law and courts, are giving way to approaches grounded in assumptions in rationality. More to the point, ev er-growing numbers of scholars are now invoking the strategic account to un derstand judicial politics. In what follows, we investigate this "strategic revolution." We begin by providing an intellectual history of the field, w ith special emphasis on why judicial specialists resisted strategic analysi s for so long and why they are now (re)turning to it in ever-increasing num bers. Next, we consider the ways that analysts have begun to put the strate gic account to work. This is an important task, for debates are already eme rging over the "best" way to invoke the account to study judicial politics. We take the position that there is no one "right" way but rather four diff erent approaches-all of which have the potential to provide us with importa nt insights into law and courts.