A Test of Conscience Without Indispensable Norms: Niklas Luhmann’s War on Terror

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Werber
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Normal Functioning ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Terror Attacks ◽  
The Usa

AbstractIn Niklas Luhmann’s social theory, the state of exception does not exist. His monographs presuppose the »normal« functioning of communication in world society, and this means that the borders of function systems and the differences between media and codes remain intact. Politics is politics, law is law, etc. But is this still true in the case of large scale terror attacks? In the question he posed to jurists in Heidelberg - whether »indispensable norms« are still valid - Luhmann opens a fissure in the heart of normality. By using the scenario of a »ticking bomb,« Luhmann parades the aporias of function codes before our eyes. The state of exception is normatively undecidable, but requires a decision nevertheless. These are the »hard cases« and the »tragic choices.« The essay plays out various scenarios involving dilemmas of decision in moral, legal, political, and mass-media communication and arrives at a type of »aprincipled maneuvering« that places systems theory astonishingly close to the modes of amoral theories current in the USA since »9/11«.

scholarly journals Citizen ownership of the state: A measure using election promise implementation score

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul Azad
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
The State ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
Power Of Attorney ◽  
The Usa

<p><i>This paper introduces a measure of citizen ownership of the state, which works with empirical data. The paper defines citizen ownership of the state as a condition where whatever the majority of citizens want is implemented. In the present-day large scale state, whatever the majority of citizens want is expressed in the election promises of the winning party, alliance or individuals. The paper argues that the level of implementation of election promises is a measurement of citizen ownership of the state. It models the authority of a representative government to a power of attorney. The citizen as principal awards a power of attorney to the winning party, alliance or individuals as an agent in their election. In the election, the set of election promises of the agent becomes the only written part of the power of attorney. The 2008-2012 tenure of US President Barack Obama is used to test how the methodological approach works with empirical data. The test finds the citizen ownership of the state in the USA at 70.7 percent and the party intrusion into the ownership at 29.3 percent during the tenure.</i>.</p>

scholarly journals Introduction: The Return of the Exception

2021 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 7-15
Author(s):  
Rafał Mańko ◽  
Przemysław Tacik ◽  
Gian Giacomo Fusco
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Freedom Of Movement ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The history of the 20th century, and more recently the two-decades long war on terror, have taught us the lesson that the normalisation of the state of exception (intended here as the proliferation of legal instruments regulating emergency powers, and their constant use in varied situations of crisis) is never immune from the risk of leaving long-lasting impacts of legal and political systems. With the “Return of the Exception” we intend to bring to the fore the fact that in the pandemic the state of exception has re-appeared in its “grand” version, the one that pertains to round-the-clock curfews and strong limitations to the freedom of movement and assembly, all adorned by warfare rhetoric of the fight against an invisible enemy – which, given the biological status of viruses, it cannot but be ourselves. But “return” here must be intended also in its psychoanalytic meaning. Much like the repressed that lives in a state of latency in the unconscious before eventually returning to inform consciousness and reshape behaviour, the state of exception is an element that remains nested in law’s text before reappearing in a specific moment with forms and intensity that are not fully predictable. Still, it remains cryptic whether the pandemic inaugurates a new epoch of liberal legality – the post-law – or just augurs its structural crisis.

scholarly journals Extra-Legal Legality: Orientalism and Biopolitics in a State of Exception

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Igbinedion Obaretin
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Careful Attention

With recourse to the poetry of Guantanamo’s detainees, this article describes the extra-legal legality that typifies the conception and activities of post-9/11 terror-suspect prison camps. It argues that the state of exception, which has become integral in the war on terror, is not a product of necessity, but a reflection of the interplay between biopolitics, biopower, and Orientalism in the post-9/11 era. By considering the ways in which Guantanamo detainees employ poetry to plead their innocence and exhibit their suffering body as political subjects and objects, this article pays careful attention to the aesthetics of Guantanamo poetry and how it reveals the poets’ individual humanity against the fabric of the brutality and illegality packaged ironically as the ‘war on terror’.

Problems of the concept “guarantor of the constitution”

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-45
Author(s):  
Mikhail Krasnov
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
Normal Functioning ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Political Force ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
History Of

The article critically analyses the concept of “guarantor of the constitution”. Briefly describing the history of the emergence of the concept, the author argues that it was originally understood too narrowly – only as a function of ensuring the stable functioning of the state apparatus. This is also how it is understood today. Meanwhile, even if the state apparatus is formally operating legally, this does not always mean that its operation is consistent with constitutional principles and values. The constitution is not simply an act of supreme legal force. It is imbued with constitutionalism, which boils down to the idea and practice of limiting power for the sake of the value of human dignity. In its turn, constitutionalism is secured by a number of principles and values, including pluralism. However, constitutionalism can also suffer from pluralism. The article speaks of two threats on this side: first, large-scale inter-party conflicts (both direct and “disguised” as conflicts between state bodies) and, second, the possibility of a political force aligned against constitutionalism gaining state power. Consequently, guaranteeing the constitution consists not only of ensuring the normal functioning of the institutions of public power, but also of protecting and defending the constitutional principles and values, which together represent constitutionalism. However, practice shows that presidents either neglect this “second part” or use the appeal to constitutional values to strengthen their own power. In the author’s view, this is due to the fallacy of the very model of a mixed (semi-presidential) republic, within which the concept of “guarantor of the constitution” emerged. The institution of the president in this model is positioned by doctrine as politically neutral and therefore above all branches of power. However, the neutrality of the president of a mixed republic is illusory, for he is a more or less active political actor and therefore incapable of fulfilling the role of guarantor of the constitution. The false presumption of presidential neutrality not only makes the institution of the guarantor ineffective, but also contributes to the authoritarian trend of the president.

The laws of war and the state of the American exception

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASON RALPH
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The State ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
American Liberalism ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
Alternative Reading

AbstractThis article examines the US response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks using Carl Schmitt's concept of the exception. It argues that the Bush administration's response is consistent with Schmitt's view, which argued that US policy continued the historical practice of drawing lines that separated ‘civilisation’ from zones of exception where the normal laws governing warfare did not apply. This suggests that the state of exception declared after 9/11 is not contingent on the rise and fall of the terrorist threat, rather it is the latest manifestation of ‘global linear thinking’ and therefore a permanent feature of American hegemony. However, the article does not accept this pessimistic conclusion. US policy since 9/11 fits squarely with a Schmittian explanation only because conservative nationalists have used the war on terror to help reconstruct a sense of American ‘exceptionalism’. An alternative reading of how American liberalism should respond to terrorism can be found in the manner in which the Bush administration's policy was rejected by the US Supreme Court.

scholarly journals Citizen ownership of the state: A measure using election promise implementation score

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul Azad
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
The State ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
Power Of Attorney ◽  
The Usa

<p><i>This paper introduces a measure of citizen ownership of the state, which works with empirical data. The paper defines citizen ownership of the state as a condition where whatever the majority of citizens want is implemented. In the present-day large scale state, whatever the majority of citizens want is expressed in the election promises of the winning party, alliance or individuals. The paper argues that the level of implementation of election promises is a measurement of citizen ownership of the state. It models the authority of a representative government to a power of attorney. The citizen as principal awards a power of attorney to the winning party, alliance or individuals as an agent in their election. In the election, the set of election promises of the agent becomes the only written part of the power of attorney. The 2008-2012 tenure of US President Barack Obama is used to test how the methodological approach works with empirical data. The test finds the citizen ownership of the state in the USA at 70.7 percent and the party intrusion into the ownership at 29.3 percent during the tenure.</i>.</p>

Is economic inequality a universal evil?

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The State ◽  
Fair Play ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
A Current

Using published estimates of inequality for two countries (Russia and USA) the paper demonstrates that inequality measuring still remains in the state of “statistical cacophony”. Under this condition, it seems at least untimely to pass categorical normative judgments and offer radical political advice for governments. Moreover, the mere practice to draw normative conclusions from quantitative data is ethically invalid since ordinary people (non-intellectuals) tend to evaluate wealth and incomes as admissible or inadmissible not on the basis of their size but basing on whether they were obtained under observance or violations of the rules of “fair play”. The paper concludes that a current large-scale ideological campaign of “struggle against inequality” has been unleashed by left-wing intellectuals in order to strengthen even more their discursive power over the public.

Corporate culture as a driver of the corporate security of foreign military-industrial enterprises

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 2363-2380
Author(s):  
S.B. Zainullin ◽  
O.A. Zainullina
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Corporate Security ◽  
Industrial Enterprises ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Military

Subject. The military-industrial complex is one of the core industries in any economy. It ensures both the economic and global security of the State. However, the economic security of MIC enterprises strongly depends on the State and other stakeholders. Objectives. We examine key factors of corporate culture in terms of theoretical and practical aspects. The article identifies the best implementation of corporate culture that has a positive effect on the corporate security in the MIC of the USA, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan ans China. Methods. The study employs dialectical method of research, combines the historical and logic unity, structural analysis, traditional techniques of economic analysis and synthesis. Results. We performed the comparative analysis of corporate culture models and examined how they are used by the MIC corporations with respect to international distinctions. Conclusions and Relevance. The State is the main stakeholder of the MIC corporations, since it acts as the core customer represented by the military department. It regulates and controls operations. The State is often a major shareholder of such corporations. Employees are also important stakeholders. Hence, trying to satisfy stakeholders' needs by developing the corporate culture, corporations mitigate their key risks and enhance their corporate security.

TO THE PROBLEMS OF COMBATING CORRUPTION IN MODERN RUSSIA AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF ANTI-CORRUPTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Dranishnikova
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Moral Point ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government

In the article, the author reflects the existing problems of the fight against corruption in the Russian Federation. He focuses on the opacity of the work of state bodies, leading to an increase in bribery and corruption. The topic we have chosen is socially exciting in our days, since its significance is growing on a large scale at all levels of the investigated aspect of our modern life. Democratic institutions are being jeopardized, the difference in the position of social strata of society in society’s access to material goods is growing, and the state of society is suffering from the moral point of view, citizens are losing confidence in the government, and in the top officials of the state.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document