Research on judicial politics has advanced considerably over the past few decades, particularly in the global South, a geopolitical region that has long been subjected to imbalanced relationships with more industrialized countries in the global North. The unique challenges confronting global South countries, including political and economic instabilities, limited state authority, and dilemmas of social integration, have shaped both the form and function of courts in these regions. We explore these implications in four key areas where a critical mass of scholarship has generated new insights and opportunities for future research: courts and stateness, courts in authoritarian regimes, courts in unstable democracies, and courts and social transformation. We show that in these areas, courts are often effective for a variety of purposes and according to standards different from those in the global North. We conclude with reflections on knowledge-building in this region and implications for future theorization and empirical inquiry.