💡 : Autocratic legalism is a "legal" war on the rule of law. It turns the tools of democracy against itself, making it one of the most significant threats to modern constitutionalism.
The second move involves : electoral laws are gerrymandered, media ownership rules are tightened to squeeze out critical outlets, and civil society funding is criminalized under the guise of "foreign agent" transparency. Over time, these reforms create what Scheppele calls "legal entrenchment"—a situation where even if a democracy-restoring leader wins an election, the legal infrastructure has been so thoroughly warped that recovery becomes nearly impossible.
Scheppele introduces the concept of the to explain how these regimes sustain themselves.
Traditional Coup (20th Century) Autocratic Legalism (21st Century) ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ • Tanks, soldiers, violence │ │ • Free & fair initial elections │ │ • Suspended constitution │ vs. │ • Technical, procedural reforms │ │ • Immediate, overt dictatorship │ │ • Masked by judicial robes │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘
Scheppele collaborated on a video essay titled "How to Lose a Democracy (Autocratic Legalism Edition): A Global Overview," which has been used in American Constitution Society events and law school classrooms to teach the autocratic legalist playbook. autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd
In her 2025 John M. Kelly Memorial Lecture at University College Dublin—titled "Democracy in Danger: The Global Challenge of Autocratic Legalism"—Scheppele took the audience through what she calls the "autocratic legalistic playbook". The playbook is not static; it is a set of borrowed tactics that spread across borders. "They are often following a script using tactics that they borrow from each other," she notes.
🗳️ The legal framework of elections is altered to favor the incumbent. This includes gerrymandering, changing campaign finance laws, or creating "media councils" that penalize independent reporting while subsidizing state-friendly outlets. Key Examples from Scheppele’s Research
Several countries have been affected by the rise of autocratic legalism, including:
At its heart, autocratic legalism represents a weaponization and politicization of legal mechanics. Rather than acting entirely outside the law, an autocratic legalist relies on the to justify their actions. As analyzed in publications like the Oxford Handbook of Authoritarian Politics and discussed by experts on the Verfassungsblog platform, this dynamic shifts governance from the "rule of law" (where power is substantively constrained) to "rule by law" (where the law acts as an instrument of executive domination). 💡 : Autocratic legalism is a "legal" war
This article is based on the ongoing research and publications of Kim Lane Scheppele. Further insights can be found in her Chicago Unbound publication and her contributions to Verfassungsblog.
This theme is echoed in a forthcoming 2025 article in the German Law Journal , where Scheppele explores how judges at transnational courts are developing a jurisprudence that transforms the vindication of individual rights into requirements that states maintain democratic structures. While it is unclear if this jurisprudence can prevent backsliding, it may become essential as "new democrats" attempt to restore constitutional institutions using these decisions as guidelines for democratic reform.
In this address, titled "Democracy in Danger: The Global Challenge of Autocratic Legalism," Scheppele took the audience through the "autocratic legalistic playbook" and argued that we need a new approach to thinking about the rule of law, one that prioritizes the restoration of democracy rather than blind adherence to legality.
Poland under the PiS government (2015–2023) followed a similar trajectory, though with some notable differences. The PiS government pursued aggressive judicial reforms that effectively subordinated the courts to the political branches, prompting a prolonged standoff with the European Union. Yet in a striking development, Polish voters in the 2023 parliamentary elections delivered a majority to a coalition of pro-democracy parties, briefly interrupting the autocratic slide. Over time, these reforms create what Scheppele calls
This is the foundational, most-cited article where Scheppele fully develops the concept. It explains how illiberal regimes (using Hungary and Poland as primary cases) use the forms of law—constitutions, statutes, courts—to entrench power, dismantle checks and balances, and undermine democracy without formally abolishing the legal order.
The process begins with a charismatic leader winning a free and fair democratic election. Claiming a mandate from "the people," the leader frames all subsequent institutional changes as necessary steps to fulfill the democratic will and crush entrenched, corrupt elites. 2. The Weaponization of "The Frankenstate"
Recognizing that legalistic changes (like packed courts) are signs of autocratic, not democratic, intent.