Authoritarianism by law: abuse of legal provisions and ruling by the law in comparative perspective

The adoption of new laws, in the form of constitutional provisions or statutory laws, engages political actors in an institutional game where winners and losers could be figured out since the early stage of the rule design/adoption process. Despite the normative understanding that we have of the law, legal instruments have been abused to push political systems toward an authoritarian way of functioning. In these cases, the law is used to serve the interests and goals of authoritarian leaders, and thus ruling by the law becomes an authoritarian strategy. The panel encourages scholars from different disciplinary perspectives to present early-stage or completed research on core questions related to these topics. To what extent does the legal culture adopted by the elite and by the population in a country matter? To what extent does the strategic structure of the political arena make the difference? Comparative research design as well as case studies would be welcome.