The High Courts and the Change of Government Socio-Environmental Agendas in Argentina and Colombia

Abstract

The article describes and analyzes high court decisions that aim to alter government agendas in terms of achieving intersectoriality. It is based on a comparative study of the judicialization of water pollution in rivers in Buenos Aires and Bogotá, which shows that, although the decisions respond to contextual conditions, they define similar measures for managing the fragmentation of state action, with an important difference in terms of monitoring and control mechanisms. In addition, they open opportunities for the incorporation of actors and articulation mechanisms between sectors and levels of government, which allow for the recognition and operationalization of certain cross-sectoral interdependencies. The article positions the high courts as important actors in the design of public policies; and raises the need to expand research on the results and effects of judicial decisions in order to understand their capacity to structure sustained changes in such policies.