National Security Law, Authoritarian Legacy, and Constitutional Courts

National security law is a common legal tool favoured by authoritarian regimes to maintain public order and preserve public interests. With its close tie to authoritarian governance, state institutions in post-authoritarian democracies—including constitutional courts—may hesitate to reform legacies of national security law owing to its politically controversial nature, even if the law poses a threat to human rights and democratic principles. Such hesitancy, however, is not the practice in democratic South Korea and Taiwan. In her research, Prof. Dr. Shih-An Wang adopts interdisciplinary methods to demonstrate that their constitutional courts have vigorously reviewed their respective state’s national security arrangements. This finding indicates the capacity of self-motivated courts in confronting legacies of authoritarianism, including those that pertain to national security.