Dr Nauman Reayat

My area of research interest is Constitutional law and politics, with my main specialism being in judicial independence. My interest in this field originates from my PhD on judicial independence in authoritarian and hybrid regimes (awarded by the University of York in 2021), after which my interest broadened and I developed my knowledge to become the leading interdisciplinary academic in judicial independence in developing democracies/Global South.

EDITED BOOKS:

Reayat, N., Smith, R.K.M., & Cho, M. (Eds.). (2024). Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458296

Reayat, N. & Yusuf, H. O. (Eds.). (2025). Constitutionalism in Africa and Beyond: Challenges and Opportunities. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol. 127. Springer Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01180-0

BOOK CHAPTERS:

Reayat, Nauman, 'The Digitalization of the Pakistani Justice System: Challenges and Solutions', in Fernando Esteban de la Rosa, Pablo Cortés, and Nuria Marchal Escalona (eds), Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in Courts: Opportunities and Challenges (2025), Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198918752.003.0010,

Reayat, N. (2025). Introduction. In: Reayat, N., Yusuf, H.O. (eds) Constitutionalism in Africa and Beyond. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 127. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01180-0_1

Reayat, N. (2025). Judicial Populism and Judicial Independence in Developing Democracies: A Comparative Analysis of Egypt and Pakistan. In: Reayat, N., Yusuf, H.O. (eds) Constitutionalism in Africa and Beyond. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 127. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01180-0_2

Reayat, N. (2025). Conclusion. In: Reayat, N., Yusuf, H.O. (eds) Constitutionalism in Africa and Beyond. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 127. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01180-0_9

Cho, M., Reayat, N., & Smith, R. K. M. (2025). Introduction. In Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies (pp. 1-12). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458296-1

Reayat, N. (2025). Judicial independence in hybrid regimes: A Comparison Between Bangladesh and Pakistan . In Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies (pp. 13-37). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458296-3

Reayat, N., Cho, M., & Smith, R. K. M. (2025). Conclusion. In Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies (pp. 312-324). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458296-18

Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies (Routledge 2024 Forthcoming)

• Constitutional law and politics
•  Judicial independence
• Judicialization of politics
• Juristocracy
• Human rights protection/enforcement
• Rule of law,
• and/or Constitutionalism

Any of the above in developing democracies/Global South/authoritarian and hybrid regimes

I am the Founder of the Global South Network (GSN). Under my leadership GSN emerged as a forum for research students, scholars, practitioners, and civil society organisations from different regions of the Global South including but not limited to Africa, Latin America, Asia, East Europe, and Middle East. . In my capacity as the Founder and Convener of GSN I organised around 150 knowledge exchange activities (including  4 international hybrid conferences, around 120 online PhD in Progress weekly panel-discussion seminars(phase I (14 seminars) and phase II  (10 seminars) phase III (47 seminars), and Phase IV Jan-Dec 2025 (50 seminars) of the above series between May 2023 and December 2025), 12 guest lectures of supreme court judges from different countries), created a team of conveners,  established an interdisciplinary advisory committee, activated the website and YouTube channel, created editorial board of GSN blogs, organised thematic and geographic groups within GSN, launched GSN mentoring, completed two edited collections on judicial independence,  and created opportunities of public engagement for academics from all backgrounds over two years of the network's launch. GSN has six geographic chapters including but not limited to South Asia, Middle East, (South) East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America and six disciplinary chapters including but not limited to Business, Criminology, Law, Political Science, and Health, Caring and Well Being.  

GSN is the world's only interdisciplinary international network that is created by and for the Global South, yet serving both the Global South and Global North. It has made an unparalleled contribution to equality, diversity, and inclusion by hosting guest talks with judges from the Supreme Court of Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine War, as well as from both the Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine and  Supreme Court of Israel during the peak of the Middle East crisis.  70% of participants during the GSN activities since its launch in March 2023 were women.   GSN conducted the first ever judicial dialogue between the Global North and the Global South involving supreme courts of 13 countries. The Chief Justice of Malaysia delivered her guest lecture on 23 May 2025. Recently, GSN conducted second judicial dialogue among European and non-European supreme administrative courts on 15 September 2025, guest lecture ofJustice Peter Jamadar of Caribbean Court of Justice on 14 October 2025, and guest lecture of the Chief justice of Hungary on 4 November 2025. 

I am the first employee of the University of Leicester to be nominated in four categories of the University of Leicester Citizens Awards (1. Research Excellence & Impact Award, 11. Living Our Values, 13. Our Citizen Award, 6. Inspiring Leader), and is a finalist in three of these categories: 11. Living Our Values, 13. Our Citizen Award, and 6. Inspiring Leader. I received "The Citizen" Award in November 2024. See details here 

• "De facto judicial independence through protests: Comparing Asia and Africa" during one-day hybrid  conference on judicial independence in Africa, University of Leicester, UK,  22 March 2023.
• “Teaching Public Law in Unsettled Times”, United Kingdom Constitutional Law Association/Durham Law School Teaching in Public Law Workshop, 15 December 2021.
• “Judicial Independence in South Asia: Comparisons”, International Conference on 50 years of Bangladesh, Comparative Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Gender Equality
• "The Rule of Law and Judicial Independence as a Shared Strategy", Political Studies Association Annual International Conference, 15-17 April 2019, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK.
• "The Role of Judicial and Political Elites in Judicialization of BREXIT", Political Studies Association Annual International Conference, 15-17 April 2019, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK.
• "The Role of the Higher Judiciaries in Hybrid Democracies", 77^th Annual Mid-West Political Science Association (MPSA) Annual Conference, 4 to 7 April 2019, Chicago, USA.
• "Why the higher judiciaries are relatively more independent in hybrid democracies?" Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Twenty-Second Annual Conference, 22-23 March 2019, Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada.
• "The Balance Between Judicial Independence and Judicial Accountability: Comparing Canada and India" Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Twenty-Second Annual Conference, 22-23 March 2019, Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada.
• "The Comparative Analysis of Judicial Appointments in Australia and the United Kingdom", Australian New Zealand Studies of North America Annual Conference, The University of Texas, Austin, USA, 6 February to 9, 2019.
• "Judicial Activism and Public Policy in South Asia" World Congress 25^th World Congress of Political Science, International Political Science Association (IPSA), Brisbane, 21-25 July 2018
• "The Role of Media in Judicial Populism", European Consortium of Political Research General Conference, 6 to 9 September, 2017, Oslo Norway.
• "Judicial Independence and Legal Evolution" Durham Castle Conference, Durham University, 26 to 27 July 2017.
• "Juristocracy and Public Policy". White Rose Politics and International Relations Annual Colloquium, University of Sheffield, 22 May 2017.

ORGANISER/CHAIR/DISCUSSANT

• Chaired the panel titled "judicial Independence In Nigeria, Cambodia, and Cameroon" one-day hybrid  conference on judicial independence in Africa, University of Leicester, UK,  22 March 2023.
• Organised and chaired the panel titled “Constitutionalism in Developing Democracies”, Annual Conference of PSA at the
  University of York, April 2022.
• Organised and chaired the panel titled “Judicial Behaviour and Minorities’ Rights in South Asia”, Annual Conference of
  the MPSA, Chicago, April 2022.
• Organised and chaired the panel titled “Judicialization of Politics in Developing Democracies”, Annual Conference of the
  Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA), April 2022.
• Chaired the panel titled “Theory: Populism, Democracy and Autocracy”, European Consortium of Political
  Research (ECPR), Oslo, 6 to 9 September, 2017.
• Chaired the panel titled “Party Policy and Party Competition”, European Consortium of Political Research
  ECPR, Oslo, 6 to 9 September, 2017.
• Discussant for the panel, Populism & Extremism, in 77th Annual Mid-West Political Science Association
  (MPSA) Annual Conference, 4 to 7 April 2019, Chicago, USA.
• Discussant for standing e-Panel: Politics of Developing Countries in 77th MPSA Annual Conference, 4 to 7 April 2019, Chicago, USA.
• Discussant for standing e-panel Democratisation and Democratic Backsliding in 77th MPSA Annual Conference, 4 to 7 April 2019, Chicago, USA.