States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives
States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives
States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives
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The centrepiece <strong>of</strong> Schmitt’s model <strong>of</strong> emergency powers is the<br />
sovereign dictatorship, the principal characteristic <strong>of</strong> which is the<br />
suspension <strong>of</strong> the entire existing legal order. 64 SigniLicantly, the<br />
sovereign dictator acting under emergency powers can “…actively…<br />
change the existing legal order and trans<strong>for</strong>m it, in whole or in<br />
part, into something else.” 65 As Gross and Ní Aoláin observe, “The<br />
norm becomes subservient to the exception, thereby reversing the<br />
relationship between the two. In fact, Schmitt eliminates<br />
altogether the notion <strong>of</strong> the normal and replaces it with the<br />
exception.” 66 By replacing the existing legal order with the<br />
exception, Schmitt renders the exception the only valid general<br />
rule. The exception as general rule thus is not only norm‐less<br />
(having replaced the ordinary legal system), it also becomes<br />
exception‐less: that is, because Schmitt’s exception as general rule<br />
admits <strong>of</strong> no separation between normality and emergency (i.e.,<br />
the state <strong>of</strong> exception), there can be no exception from the<br />
exception. 67 The consequence is a permanent state <strong>of</strong> exception<br />
(i.e., emergency under the sovereign dictatorship).<br />
In Schmitt’s view, legal norms presuppose the existence <strong>of</strong> a<br />
condition <strong>of</strong> normality. A normal, ordinary state <strong>of</strong> affairs is not<br />
merely a ‘superLicial presupposition’ that jurists choose to ignore<br />
or not; it is goes to the ‘immanent validity’ <strong>of</strong> legal norms. Thus,<br />
64<br />
Carlo Galli (2000) ‘Carl Schmitt’s Antiliberalism: Its Theoretical and <br />
Historical Sources and its Philosophical and Political Meaning’ 21 Cardozo <br />
Law Review 1597<br />
65<br />
Gross and Ní Aoláin: p.164<br />
66<br />
Ibid<br />
67<br />
Oren Gross (2000) ‘The Normless Exception and Exceptionless Exception: <br />
Carl Schmitt’s Theory <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Emergency</strong> Powers and the ‘Norm‐Exception’ <br />
Dichotomy’ 21 Cardozo Law Review 1825<br />
59