Venezuela’s Next Phase: “Autocratic Legalism”
By
José Ignacio Hernández
Nicolás Maduro turns to the Supreme Court to legitimize his fraudulent election count.
Venezuela is a remarkable, although tragic, example of how dictators—as the political philosopher Heinrich Rommen once wrote—are masters of legalism. When Hugo Chávez was elected in December 1998, Venezuela had a workable constitutional democracy. Since then, democracy has eroded in a slow-motion process through the abuse of constitutional institutions, following the patterns of constitutional authoritarianism complemented by populist rhetoric. Today, the regime led by Nicolás Maduro is resorting to “autocratic legalism” in another desperate attempt to stay in power. Will he...
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