Must exceptionalism prove the rule? an angle on emergency government in the history of political thought
By: LAZAR, Nomi Claire.
Material type: ArticlePublisher: London : Sage Publications, June 2006Subject(s): emergency | state of exception | Schmitt | Machiavelli | rightsPolitics & Society 34, 2, p. 245-275Abstract: Discussions of the problem of emergency powers often assume that norms and exceptions constitute its conceptual structure. This perspective is both self-undermining and dangerous. Because even the critics of emergency powers often rely on this dichotomy, clarifying the conceptual terrain might contribute to the development of a safer approach to emergencies. Hence, this article explores the origins and logic of modern exceptionalism by examining instances of its careful articulation in the history of political thought: in the "republican" exceptionalism of Machiavelli and Rousseau and the "decisionist" exceptionalism of Schmitt and HobbesDiscussions of the problem of emergency powers often assume that norms and exceptions constitute its conceptual structure. This perspective is both self-undermining and dangerous. Because even the critics of emergency powers often rely on this dichotomy, clarifying the conceptual terrain might contribute to the development of a safer approach to emergencies. Hence, this article explores the origins and logic of modern exceptionalism by examining instances of its careful articulation in the history of political thought: in the "republican" exceptionalism of Machiavelli and Rousseau and the "decisionist" exceptionalism of Schmitt and Hobbes
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