Abstract

RESTREPO RESTREPO, Juan Cristóbal. The Authoritarian Use of the Law: An Approximation from the Colombian Constitutional Structuring Process. Pap.polit. [online]. 2013, vol.18, n.2, pp.479-513. ISSN 0122-4409.

One optimistic expression that hides one of the most recurrent political phenomena in Colombian history was uttered by constitutionalist lawyer Diego Uribe Vargas: eternal "loyalty to the law and respect for juridical norms", reinforced by the idea of affection for democracy and its institutions. This situation contrasts dramatically with the political and partisan crises and the perennial constitutional and legal changes, which allows for an approximation to the so-called authoritarian use of the law as a consequence of the predominance of politics over the law; of the personality of whoever represents an institution and the will of whoever rules, over the theoretical constitutional mandate, of the rite that hides powerful interests. In order to unveil the phenomenon mentioned above, this article reviews two constitutional processes of the 19th century that shaped the political regime and whose permanent features, paraphrasing Hernando Valencia Villa, have perpetuated themselves and have resisted any change from above. Perhaps 1991 cracked the system to a certain extent but only time, the long time, could make it evident.

Keywords : Politics; Law; autoritarism; colombian constitutonalism; Constitutional lawsuit; Century XIX; Constitution 1821; Organic decree law's dictatorship 1828; Constitution 1863; Constitution 1886; Constitution 1991; Colombia; constitutional law; constitutional history; law and politics; constitutional reforms.

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