In this major synthetic article, Scheppele traced how the rule of law has developed as a set of governing practices across comparative law and policy debates. She argued that the policy conversation has tended to depoliticize law altogether, making it possible for aspirational autocrats to game the system. However, she also identified a hopeful trajectory: the rule of law is now beginning a new life through a movement to deparochialize law and re-embed it in transnational norms.
Understanding Autocratic Legalism: How Modern Dictators Use Law to Destroy Democracy autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd
Autocratic legalism is particularly dangerous because it blurs the line between legality and legitimacy. By the time it is obvious that a country is no longer a liberal democracy, the autocrat has already stacked the legal, media, and judicial systems to prevent their removal. In this major synthetic article, Scheppele traced how
is a highly calculated governing technique where democratically elected leaders utilize constitutional engineering, legislative adjustments, and institutional reinterpretation to dismantle liberal democratic systems from within. Coined and popularized by Princeton University sociologist and legal scholar Kim Lane Scheppele in her seminal 2018 essay published in the University of Chicago Law Review , the concept reveals how modern authoritarianism bypasses violent, military coups. Instead, it relies on a "playbook" executed entirely within the formal bounds of the law, making democratic backsliding difficult to detect, measure, or penalize. they implement an incremental
The Evolution of Autocratic Legalism: Scheppele’s Framework in the 2026 Landscape
(early articulation) or Scheppele, Kim Lane, and Laurent Pech. (2018). "Illiberalism Within: Rule of Law Backsliding in the EU." Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies , Vol. 20, pp. 3–47.
Legalistic autocrats rarely move chaotically. Instead, they implement an incremental, highly calculated script to capture institutional infrastructure: