In the classic 20th-century playbook, democracies died in darkness—usually via a sudden, violent military coup. Tanks rolled into the streets, the constitution was suspended, and a dictator took charge. But in the 21st century, the threat has evolved into something far more subtle and, perhaps, more dangerous.
AI responses may include mistakes. For legal advice, consult a professional. Learn more autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd
One of the most sophisticated critiques of existing democracy indices emerges from scholars building on Scheppele’s work. A 2022 paper by Rohlfing and Wind—titled "Autocratic Legalism and the Measures of Democracy"—argues that traditional indices like Polity5, Freedom House, and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) often fail to capture the subtlety of autocratic legalism. In the classic 20th-century playbook, democracies died in
Crucially, because law is the weapon of choice, "impending autocracy may not be evident at the start". This is what makes autocratic legalism so insidious: the decline is incremental, cloaked in a veneer of procedural legitimacy. AI responses may include mistakes
: Intentional non-enforcement of rules when the ruling party or its allies violate existing legal standards. The Anatomy of an Autocratic Takeover
In her 2025 John M. Kelly Lecture, she posited that while countries like Poland, Brazil, Ecuador, and briefly the United States found some respite from autocratic slide through elections that restored rule-of-law governments, "none of the countries that has experienced a serious autocratic episode has been able to fully recover, precisely because the aspirational autocrats have engaged in legal entrenchment".