The dictatorship and the Spanish Constitution of 1978

Abstract

The dictatorship is a taboo in liberal-positivist regimes. In these regimes, the word «dictatorship» is only used to name the political enemy. However, this vulgarization of the word dictatorship does not allow to understand the dictatorship as legal institution. In this paper, we analyze the dictatorship in its legal dimension in relation with COVID-19 pandemic and its possible framing in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in exceptional situations. We use the Carl Schmitt’s typology and the different between commissarial dictatorship and sovereign dictatorship.

Keywords:

Sovereign dictatorship, commissarial dictatorship, decisionism, positivism, Spanish Constitution, state of alarm, state of exception, exceptional states

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