Varieties of authoritarian legality

An analysis of legality in an authoritarian zone requires a nuanced understanding of its dynamics and how they differ from those conventionally envisioned in a democratic society. This article critically examines the varieties of authoritarian legality in three differentiated paradigms, namely, ‘law and politics’, ‘law with politics’, and ‘law in politics’, each engaging in a distinctive entanglement of law with politics depending on the varying degrees of the law’s autonomy. Furthermore, it points out that the engagement of authoritarian legality is favourably facilitated through politically controllable legal institutions and state-shaped public sphere. Moreover, it argues that the standalone statist reason cannot stand out alone as a legitimate ground for legality unless some other alternative reasons can be dialogically engaged in the public discourse. Otherwise, the force and violence may be clothed in the form of a law that serves as a political instrument for the ruling of the authoritarian government, which can be fuelled by nationalistic ideologies or demagogues.

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