After the Continental-European type of specialized constitutional courts has globally largely prevailed over the past two decades (at least beyond the Anglo-Saxon world), constitutional courts increasingly decided questions with far-reaching political consequences in various political settings. In this respect, a general tendency towards the judicialization of politics is embodied particularly clearly in the institution of constitutional courts. Correspondingly, role and performance of constitutional courts are increasingly challenged in political debate in a range of political settings and became one of the most interesting topics in recent academic discourses on constitutional theory. Despite their common roots in a few models these courts vary widely in their role within the constitutional system, their functions and their effective performance. Against this background the contributions collected in this volume address - among others - questions such as the constitutionalization of the legal system and the increasing politicalization of constitutional courts. The contributions refer to the constitutional systems of Cambodia, Croatia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Practice-oriented perspectives are provided by the contributions of incumbent or former constitutional court justices among the authors (from Cambodia, Croatia, and Poland).