Scheppele Upd — Autocratic Legalism Kim Lane
Thus, searching “autocratic legalism UPenn” will pull up not only Scheppele’s work but also related scholarship by Penn’s own David C. Williams, Eric Feldman, and the late Howard Lesnick—all of whom debated and extended her framework. The keyword “upd” is almost certainly a search engine fragment from “upenn dot edu” or a misspelling of “UPenn.”
When criticized, the autocrat can point to individual provisions and defend them by saying, "This law exists in France," or "This is how Germany structures its committees."
The foundational premise of Scheppele's work is that modern authoritarianism does not advertise its arrival. Because these leaders come to power through free and fair elections, they carry genuine democratic legitimacy. Once in office, they utilize that very mandates to weaponize the law against the democratic infrastructure. autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd
In Brazil, scholars have extended Scheppele's framework to analyze the Bolsonaro era. Marina Barreto, in a 2023 article, proposed the concept of "autocratic infra-legalism" to describe how the Bolsonaro administration used administrative legal tools rather than formal constitutional changes to advance its illiberal agenda, offering a counter-argument to Scheppele's original thesis. This academic debate illustrates how Scheppele's framework continues to generate new theoretical developments as scholars apply it to different national contexts.
They use parliamentary majorities to pass laws or amend constitutions in ways that give them vast new powers while technically adhering to legal procedures. Neutralizing Checks and Balances: Key tactics include: Thus, searching “autocratic legalism UPenn” will pull up
Others have proposed alternative or supplementary frameworks. The concept of "weaponized legalism" suggests that rather than a coherent project of autocratic consolidation, what we are seeing is a more chaotic phenomenon in which political competitors regularly reach for the law to undermine opponents, strengthen themselves, or advertise their power. The Brazilian concept of "autocratic infra-legalism" argues that autocrats can achieve many of their goals through administrative measures and legal tools beneath the level of formal constitutional change, challenging the assumption that autocratic legalism necessarily involves major constitutional engineering.
Historically, authoritarianism arrived violently via tanks, martial law, and overthrown governments. As documented in Scheppele's foundational 2018 paper published in the University of Chicago Law Review , modern democratic backsliding operates through a legalistic playbook. Because these leaders come to power through free
Case studies (illustrative)
