Executive decrees, omnibus bills, and the politics of abusive constitutionalism

Abstract

Consolidation of authoritarian rule by constitutional tools is becoming an increasingly prevalent phenomenon, as powerful incumbents instrumentalize constitutional amendments to rework the state to their advantage and eliminate the horizontal checks. Turkish experience since 2014, we argue, is a suitable case to identify the legal mechanisms that are abused to undermine democratic rule within the context of abusive constitutionalism. We present original data on omnibus bills and analyse the executive decrees which expanded executive discretion over legislation and reduced horizontal accountability. Our analysis shows that the regime single-handedly reorganized the administrative structure through executive decrees, while the omnibus bills were critical in addressing the economic and judicial issues. Both methods of legislation accelerated the law-making to exclude the opposition from legislative processes. Our analysis contributes to the literature as it illustrates how the would-be autocrats eroded democratic institutional order by gradually neutralizing checks on their rule.