Pesquisa empírica sobre o poder judiciário: abordagens teóricas na ciência política

Thinking about the performance of the Judiciary from a Political Science perspective has been a challenge for Brazilian researchers, especially since the 1990s and the growing role of the Courts in the social and political sphere. The article aims to summarize the methods of analysis of judicial decisions, covering their main authors, the characteristics of each perspective, as well as the virtues and limits of their uses for the Brazilian case. In addition, it presents new integrationist approaches, which seek to advance in relation to the analysis of judicial behavior, promoting a multidimensional view, not restricted to single and limiting explanatory variables. Thus, this work fills a gap in the theoretical framework on the subject, providing an overview for those who seek to face this line of analysis.