With Supreme and Constitutional courts or tribunals playing an increasingly significant role in shaping extractive policies in Latin America, scholars should turn their attention to the impacts of judicial decisions on policy processes. This phenomenon is of considerable interest to scholars of policy integration, as constitutional interpretations by the courts have the potential to reframe policy issues and address the effects of policy fragmentation. In this paper, we investigate the influence of high courts on the creation of integrative spaces that seek to convey a commitment to guaranteeing constitutional rights. Our study focuses on Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala where we analyze the role of high courts in initiating policy integration processes. First, it contributes to the processual approach to policy integration by highlighting the role of the courts in initiating policy integration processes. In doing so, we depart from the usual focus on integration as a design of governments, instead highlighting how governments and other actors react to integration mandates issued by the courts. Furthermore, we contribute to current debates on how high courts enhance the State’s responses to social conflicts by protecting constitutional rights, identifying the conditions under which judicial decisions can produce effective policy integration. Our research is based on the analysis of court documents gray literature and semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants and country experts. The findings underscore the importance of goal compatibility between high courts and dominant actors within policy subsystems, in mobilizing the resources required to form and operate integrative spaces. Applicable enforcement mechanisms and conflict expansion by policy challengers complete the conditions that allow court decisions to produce effective policy integration. Finally, the strategic and contextual nature of actors’ engagement in integration processes suggests that policy integration is no panacea for tackling complex issues and improving policy delivery.

随着最高法院和宪法法院或法庭在制定拉丁美洲的采掘政策方面发挥着越来越重要的作用，学者们应该将注意力转向司法判决对政策过程的影响。这种现象引起了政策一体化学者的极大兴趣，因为法院的宪法解释有可能重新界定政策问题并解决政策碎片化的影响。在本文中，我们调查了高等法院对创建一体化空间的影响，这些空间旨在传达保障宪法权利的承诺。我们的研究重点是哥伦比亚、厄瓜多尔和危地马拉，分析了高等法院在启动政策一体化进程中的作用。首先，它通过强调法院在启动政策一体化进程中的作用，有助于政策一体化的程序性方法。在此过程中，我们偏离了通常将整合作为政府设计的重点，而是强调政府和其他参与者如何对法院发布的整合指令做出反应。此外，我们还为当前关于高等法院如何通过保护宪法权利来加强国家对社会冲突的反应的辩论做出贡献，确定司法判决可以产生有效政策整合的条件。我们的研究基于对法庭文件、灰色文献的分析以及对关键知情人和国家专家进行的半结构化访谈。研究结果强调了高等法院与政策子系统内的主导行为体之间目标兼容性的重要性，以调动形成和运作一体化空间所需的资源。适用的执行机制和政策挑战者的冲突扩大完善了法院判决产生有效政策整合的条件。最后，参与者参与一体化进程的战略和背景性质表明，政策一体化并不是解决复杂问题和改善政策实施的灵丹妙药。