The New Fourth Branch

Mark Tushnet is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School. He clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall before beginning his teaching career. He has written more than a dozen books, including Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law (2008) and Advanced Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law (2014). He was President of the Association of American Law Schools in 2003, and in 2002 was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

• 1. Introduction; 2. Why a fourth branch – the structural logic; 3. Why a fourth branch – the functional logic; 4. Design issues in general; 5. Design principles in practice – a survey; 6. Anticorruption investigations – case studies from Brazil and South Africa; 7. Electoral commissions – case studies from India, the United States, and South Korea; 8. Audit agencies; 9. Conclusion.

'In an age when integrity and democracy are under unprecedented pressure, Mark Tushnet's description of emerging constitutional 'best practice' worldwide – systematic, realistic, and unemotional – helps to launch a new debate on whether, and how, the civic virtues that underpin good governance might be better institutionalized for all.' A. J. Brown, Professor of Public Policy & Law, Griffith University; Board Member, Transparency International