Empire, Emergency and International Law

This book analyses the states of emergency exposing the intersections between colonial law, international law, imperialism and racial discrimination.

John Reynolds (Author)

9781107172517, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 August 2017

342 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.1 cm, 0.6 kg

'John Reynolds has written a book of immense importance in at least three distinct areas of law: legal history, international law and comparative law. The level of detail, the theoretical basis and the ability to display the link between historical eras and disparate territories demonstrate conclusively the origins of emergency law in the colonial experience, a critically important legacy that he documents in magisterial fashion. Reynolds grounds his book firmly in the camp of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), which serves his principal mission of discussing the racism, imperialism and colonialism at the heart of emergency law. It is hard to overstate the importance of Reynolds' intervention. Empire, Emergency, and International Law is the corrective to the ahistorical and wrong-headed debate we have been subject to for far too long. It is an indispensable book that should serve as a frame of reference for any study on the law of emergency.' Wadie Said, Journal of Conflict & Security Law

What does it mean to say we live in a permanent state of emergency? What are the juridical, political and social underpinnings of that framing? Has international law played a role in producing or challenging the paradigm of normalised emergency? How should we understand the relationship between imperialism, race and emergency legal regimes? In addressing such questions, this book situates emergency doctrine in historical context. It illustrates some of the particular colonial lineages that have shaped the state of emergency, and emphasises that contemporary formations of emergency governance are often better understood not as new or exceptional, but as part of an ongoing historical constellation of racialised emergency politics. The book highlights the connections between emergency law and violence, and encourages alternative approaches to security discourse. It will appeal to scholars and students of international law, colonial history, postcolonialism and human rights, as well as policymakers and social justice advocates.

Foreword
Prologue
Part I. Traditions of the Oppressed: 1. Emergency, colonialism and third world approaches to international law
2. Racialisation and states of emergency
3. Emergency doctrine: a colonial account
Part II. Empire's Law: 4. Emergency derogations and the international human rights project
5. Kenya: a 'purely political' state of emergency
6. The margin of appreciation doctrine: colonial origins
Part III. The Colonial Present: 7. Palestine: a 'scattered, shattered space of exception'?
8. Australia: racialised emergency intervention
9. International law, resistance and 'real' states of emergency
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR], Public international law [LBB], Legal history [LAZ], International relations [JPS], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ]