Agamben’s two missing factors; Understanding state of emergency through colonialism and racial doctrine

Abstract

AbstractThe idea of state of exception and sovereignty presented by Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben in the aftermath of post September 11 context generated a new discourse in the realms of public law and political philosophy on how law and its protection becomes invalid under state of exception as Agamben showed how suspension of constitutional liberties within so called state of exception legally erases any status of an individual regardless international legal or constitutional norms. However, this article seeks to examine how Agamben had excluded the nature of state of emergency doctrine in colonial societies under European colonialism, where emergency regulations were frequently adopted by colonial masters in subordinating the colonized and at the same time this article will focus on the racial element appeared behind enacting state of emergency in both colonial era and modern states. The objective of this article lies in underpinning much important, yet neglected two factors in whole state of emergency scenario. The results emerging from this article will demonstrate how Eurocentric academic thinking has abandoned some real pertinent issues in constructing the notion on state of emergency.