Dictatorship of law 20th century

Abstract

The article deals with the formation of the dictatorship of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez between 1931 and 1935 and its constitutional consecration in 1939, to which the title refers. For this, he describes the impact that the Great Depression had on the Salvadoran economy, as well as the repercussions of the generalized crisis that the country experienced and that manifested itself in the reorganization of the State, the mobilization of rebel groups and, more importantly, the shift towards the dictatorship as a political regime. It is, suggested that the opposition between democracy and authoritarianism has summarized the political problems of the constitutional evolution of the 20th century in El Salvador. From a historical perspective, it argues that the tension between these two poles created, on the one hand, constitutional formality and, on the other, the reality of disrespect for the rights of citizenship. Throughout the century, the relationship between the struggles for democracy, the validity of authoritarianism and constitutional production was decisive in three periods: 1939–1944, 1950 1962 y 1983–1992. The first period was of the splendor of the dictatorship; the second corresponded to the authoritarian validity. In the latter, in the middle of the war, when the foundation of democracy, was configured. This approach is part of the broader research project on the “Salvadoran constitutional evolution in the 20th century”, within the framework of the research agenda of the Evangelical University of El Salvador, with a view to the celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence, 1821-2021.