Political Technology and the Erosion of the Rule of Law: Normalizing the State of Exception

This timely volume by distinguished scholar Günter Frankenberg offers a sophisticated analysis and sharp critique of the reactions of nations such as the US, Great Britain and Germany to perceived terrorist threats, organized crime actions and other political emergencies that have occurred in recent years.

The author demonstrates how governments have increasingly sacrificed the rule of law and human rights for the benefit of security programs –- as evidenced by a rise in extraordinary measures such as surveillance, detention and torture –- thus normalizing the state of exception and privileging preemptive, proactive and coercive methods of political engineering. An interdisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional study, this book develops and implements a unique theoretical and conceptual framework for understanding the rise of technical-political rationality and the fall of the rule of law, and submits both to a firm critique.

Particularly relevant in light of current controversies, this provocative book will appeal to scholars and students of international and constitutional law, legal theory, political science, and terrorism studies.

Günter Frankenberg, Emeritus Professor of Public Law, Philosophy of Law and Comparative Law, Institute for Public Law, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany