The Authoritarian Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64718/ciklus/2026-01-03Keywords:
autocracy, global capitalism, liberal democracy, dark constitutionalism, autocratic legalismAbstract
In this study I examine the conception of law in contemporary authoritarian regimes from a critical perspective. My main argument is that the authoritarian nature of the legal system is both a cause and a consequence of the authoritarian turn in political systems. In other words, new types of autocracies identify and exploit the autocratic characteristics in modern law. I aim to substantiate this by examining authoritarian law from three perspectives: first, in light of the crisis of the liberal legal order; second, from the perspective of the authoritarian tendencies of global capitalism; and third, within the framework of the effects of contemporary autocracies, I analyse the concepts of “dark constitutionalism” and authoritarian legalism. The study concludes that a future democratic legal system can only be established by counterbalancing the holistic (inherent and contemporary) authoritarian tendencies of modern law.
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