Normalizing the State of Exception

In times of crisis, liberal constitutional statecraft must constantly defend itself against the temptation of the state of exception.

In his latest book, Günter Frankenberg focuses on threat scenarios, the instruments as well as the rules and strategies for preparedness and response to threats. Under the flag of »war against terrorism« and against »organized crime« Western governments have sacrificed rule of law elements and human rights on the altar of security and have been transformed into »security states«. This development has led to a triumph of political technology over other modes of governance. By the same token, the state of exception has been gradually normalized as reveals the discourse on extraordinary measures, like torture or the downing of renegade airplanes, and the structural changes of police law. The rise of the technical rationality and the fall of law-rule are analyzed and submitted to critique. The aim of the book is at once to illuminate the ambivalence inherent in the constitutional state as well as to defend democratic legality against those tendencies that would make the state of exception the new norm.