The law ethical dilemmas in facing the dictatorship syndrome and civil disobedience

Abstract

When citizens believe that the social contract is broken, the rule of law becomes more critical than ever to guarantee the social and political order. The law can become one of the essential tools to guarantee the survival of certain political elites and authoritarian regimes that somehow are destroying societal security via the autocratization process. The law finds its own ethical dilemmas in nepotism, abuse of power, corruption, inequality, and poor governance. This article addresses some of these ethical dilemmas and the role of the so-called ‘dictatorship syndrome’ in the dynamics that develop within autocratization processes. Likewise, it delves into the ethical dilemmas provided by civil disobedience against authoritarian regimes that implement ‘necropolitics’. The article will prove how the rule of law can make things worse in certain circumstances, as it is becoming a part of the problem rather than being part of the solution.