ASAUK 2018

In the small states of Southern Africa the localisation of the senior judiciary is a very recent phenomenom. The last decade, in particular, has seen the slow death of a (British and South African) imperial relic: an informal system for judicial appointments based on a transnational 'old boys club'. This paper analyses difficulties existing political science theories face when explaining such politicisations of judicial selection. Local political conditions may account for the scope and timing of change, but change itself is inexplicable without reference to new forms of judicial authority in former metropoles.