Crisis, Authoritarianism and Emergency Powers

This book traces the historical contexts of states of emergency and the socio-legal construction of emergency powers. The modern historical roots of emergency powers follow a trajectory marked by imperialism, economic crisis, war and revolution. Bringing together scholars from law, history and political science, this book historicises the relationship between emergency powers, social, political and economic crisis, and authoritarian rule. In so doing, it maps the contemporary predicament of proliferation of emergencies beyond the existing law-centered paradigm of emergency law and the theoretical conundrum of the state of exception. Grounded in a commitment to critical theory, it further engages with the materiality of emergency powers, focusing on their operation at the interstices of social processes and discourses that are historically embedded in political contexts. This critical historical engagement with the ever more pressing issue of emergency powers will be of interest to scholars working in relevant areas in law, politics and history.