Autocratic Legalism Kim Lane Scheppele Upd Instant

By maintaining a strict facade of legalism, autocratic legalists gain a crucial asset that traditional military juntas lacked: institutional legitimacy. Because their actions are cloaked in formal legal procedures, international monitoring bodies, domestic courts, and ordinary citizens often fail to recognize the impending dictatorship until the transition is virtually irreversible. The Core Mechanisms of Autocratic Legalism

Scheppele frequently cites under Viktor Orbán and Poland (under the PiS government) as primary examples. In these cases, the leaders rewrote constitutions or passed "reforms" that effectively neutered the judiciary while claiming they were merely modernizing or "de-communizing" the system. autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd

Because the process is incremental, it lacks a "fire alarm" moment. Each individual law might seem minor or even reasonable in isolation. It is only when the cumulative effect is viewed as a whole that the collapse of democracy becomes apparent. The Global Spread By maintaining a strict facade of legalism, autocratic