Authoritarian Constitutionalism: Comparative Analysis and Critique

Helena Alviar García
| Edwar Elgar

Neoliberalism as a form of Authoritarian Constitutionalism

Helena Alviar García, Günter Frankenberg
| Edwar Elgar

The chapter proposes to include in the term ‘authoritarian constitutionalism’ the set of provisions that fix neoliberal orthodoxy as the only policy choice available to public officials. It opposes the justification that economic policy should be protected from political deliberation and argues that constitutionally enshrining the agenda of fiscal austerity, free trade, export led growth and the protection of foreign investment is a form of authoritarianism. It provides examples from the Latin American context.