Former Kellogg PhD Fellow Benjamin Garcia-Holgado (PhD ‘23) recently published his paper “The Dark Side of Legalism: Abuse of the Law and Democratic Erosion in Argentina, Ecuador, and Venezuela” in the journal American Behavioral Scientist.
The paper explores why some elected leaders use legalistic strategies to undermine democracy from within and under what circumstances they succeed in doing so. Garcia-Holgado argues that the abuse of law is a core method implemented by emerging autocrats in their work to gradually dismantle the elements of liberal democracy. The paper shows how this is hidden by the co-optation of the judiciary by the executive to create a facade of normalcy.
Garcia-Holgado is now an assistant professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. His research focuses on regime change, populism, judicial politics, Latin American politics, and qualitative methods.