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Welcome to the Institute for the Study of States of Exception (ISSE) main content page, a single source for all posts from the Institute, including commentary on global events, book reviews, academic literature, links to our podcasts, and additional resources. Check back regularly for more content from us.
“Sovereign is he who decides the exception.”
— Carl Schmitt (Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty, 1922)
Trinidad and Tobago Ends Prolonged State of Emergency While Pursuing Permanent Security Legislation
Trinidad and Tobago has ended a prolonged state of emergency after nearly two years of extraordinary security powers while proposing permanent legislation to replace aspects of the emergency framework. The case highlights an important question in emergency governance: whether temporary exceptional measures truly end, or instead become embedded within ordinary legal institutions.
When the Exception Becomes Normal: Executive Power, Prolonged Martial Law, and Constitutional Resilience in Ukraine
Ukraine offers a critical case for the comparative study of emergency powers: a constitutional democracy confronting a genuine existential threat while operating under prolonged martial law. This article uses the Ukrainian experience to show that the central democratic challenge of a long emergency is not simply the existence of extraordinary powers, but whether institutions can keep them lawful, necessary, proportionate, accountable, and ultimately reversible.
United States Declares National Emergency to Secure the Bulk-Power System
On August 26, 2026, President Trump declared a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to address perceived national security risks associated with foreign-produced equipment used in the U.S. bulk-power system. Our article examines how the declaration expands executive authority over critical infrastructure and illustrates the growing use of emergency powers to address supply chain security and strategic technological vulnerabilities.
Deference Should Follow Expertise, Not Pretext: Anthropic v. Department of War and the Case for Squaring Trump v. Hawaii with Department of Commerce v. New York - Just Security
This article by ISSE Research Fellow Yuvraj Tuli, published in Just Security, examines how courts should distinguish between legitimate national security judgments and the use of national security authorities as a pretext for unrelated political or administrative objectives. It explores when judicial deference to executive claims of national security is warranted, and when constitutional accountability requires more searching judicial review.
Carl Schmitt in the Middle East: Unstable Decisionism and the Failure of Political Orders - Samuel Mace
In this new book, ISSE Senior Fellow Samuel Mace critically examines Carl Schmitt's theory of decisionism through the political experience of the modern Middle East, arguing that regimes built upon exceptional authority often generate long-term instability rather than durable political order. The book offers a significant contribution to the study of states of exception by reassessing one of the twentieth century's most influential theorists of emergency power while illuminating the practical consequences of decisionist governance.
Delhi Renews Preventive Detention Authority Under India's National Security Act
As of July 7, 2026, Indian authorities have renewed the delegation of preventive detention powers under the National Security Act, allowing designated officials to order detention without ordinary criminal charges during a period of heightened political sensitivity following nationwide protests. The case illustrates how extraordinary executive powers can be exercised through standing statutory authorities rather than formally declared constitutional emergencies, highlighting an increasingly important form of embedded exceptionality within ordinary governance.
Cincinnatus and the Constitutional Ideal of Temporary Power
The Roman statesman Cincinnatus has long symbolized the constitutional principle that extraordinary powers should be exercised only when genuinely necessary and relinquished once the crisis has passed. His enduring legacy illustrates one of the oldest and most important safeguards of constitutional government: that emergency authority derives its legitimacy not only from necessity, but from its temporary character.
Spain Activates National Civil Protection Emergency for Major Wildfires
On July 23, 2026, Spain activated an Emergency of National Interest for the first time in response to a wildfire crisis, temporarily centralizing national coordination of disaster response as fires spread across multiple autonomous communities during an intense heat wave. The declaration illustrates how democratic governments can reallocate operational authority through existing statutory emergency frameworks while leaving the constitutional order and ordinary civil liberties intact, highlighting an increasingly important model of emergency governance in an era of climate-driven disasters.
United States Invokes Tariff Act Emergency Authority to Facilitate Moroccan Phosphate Fertilizer Imports
On June 29, 2026, President Trump invoked a little-known emergency authority under the Tariff Act of 1930 to temporarily suspend certain trade remedies on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco in response to global supply disruptions affecting American agriculture. ISSE examines this rarely used statutory emergency mechanism and explains how it differs from broader national emergency declarations, illustrating the growing role of sector-specific emergency powers in addressing supply chain and economic crises.
South Korea Sentences Former Justice Minister for 25 Years, Continuing Accountability Effort Following Failed December 2024 Martial Law Declaration
Former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed December 2024 martial law declaration, marking another significant step in South Korea’s effort to hold senior officials accountable for the misuse of emergency powers. The case highlights how constitutional democracies can use judicial processes to reinforce democratic accountability, restore constitutional order, and deter future abuses of extraordinary authority.
Russian Occupation Authorities Declare State of Emergency in Crimea
Russian-installed authorities in occupied Crimea have declared a regional state of emergency following sustained Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure and military logistics. ISSE examines the declaration through the lens of international humanitarian law, exploring how emergency powers operate under military occupation and why this case differs fundamentally from emergencies declared by sovereign governments.
Venezuela Declares Nationwide State of Emergency Following Devastating Earthquakes
On June 24, 2026, Venezuela declared a nationwide state of emergency following the most destructive earthquakes to strike the country in more than a century. ISSE examines the legal authorities invoked, the distinction between disaster-related and governance emergencies, and why even well-justified emergency powers should remain proportionate, transparent, and temporary.
Bolivia Declares 90-Day State of Emergency Amid Nationwide Protests
On June 20, 2026, Bolivia declared a 90-day nationwide state of emergency after weeks of protests and road blockades disrupted fuel supplies, transportation, and access to essential services. ISSE examines the legal authorities invoked, the role of legislative oversight, and what the declaration reveals about how democratic governments use emergency powers during periods of prolonged political and economic crisis.
ISSE Explainer: When Executive Power Becomes Exceptional — Unitary Executive Theory as a State of Exception
How can the most expansive forms of the unitary executive theory function as a standing state of exception within constitutional law? ISSE puts the recent legal disputes over the revocation of security clearances and the attempted federalization of National Guard within a deeper theory of presidential power.
U.S. Judicial Power and the Normalization of Exceptionality - Louisiana v. Callais
The Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais has intensified debate over judicial power, electoral representation, and democratic legitimacy in the United States. While supporters view the ruling as a constitutional limit on race-conscious districting, critics argue it may weaken Black political representation in several Southern states. From an ISSE perspective, the case is significant not only for its voting-rights implications, but for how accelerated procedures and emergency-style mechanisms derived from the ruling are already shaping ordinary democratic governance. Rapid redistricting efforts and compressed legislative timelines illustrate how exceptional practices can become enabled and embedded within formally constitutional processes. The case raises broader questions about democratic resilience, institutional restraint, and the gradual normalization of exceptionality within contemporary governance.
United States – Temporary Protected Status Termination Cases Test the Limits of Executive Power and Due Process
The Supreme Court of the United States will soon hear challenges to the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syria and Haiti, cases that sit squarely within ISSE’s core concern: the use of exceptional or emergency-adjacent authority without meaningful procedural constraint. At issue is whether the Department of Homeland Security can rely on broad assertions of “national interest,” or must conduct a genuine, evidence-based assessment of country conditions as required by statute. Lower courts have already identified procedural failures and, in some instances, evidence of predetermined outcomes. With more than one million TPS holders affected, the stakes extend far beyond immigration policy. The Court’s decision will help determine whether executive power, when operating in the space between routine governance and exception, remains subject to enforceable legal limits.
Permanent Emergency: States of Exception and Democratic Erosion - ISSE speaks at King’s College London’s Centre for Statecraft & National Security
ISSE team members spoke at Centre for Statecraft & National Security on April 8, 2026, in a panel examining the global rise of “states of exception.” The discussion explored how emergency powers and prolonged security measures are increasingly shaping democratic governance across regions.
The End of Law - Political Theology and the Crisis of Sovereignty
This book examines how Gustav Radbruch, H. L. A. Hart, and Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde each addressed the question of the end of law, its function, and its normative foundation within the context of the modern legal and political order. Through a politico-theological reading, it highlights the tension between legal validity and moral legitimacy, as well as the extent to which law can maintain public order without compromising its own claim to justice.
The analysis of Radbruch, Hart, and Böckenförde sheds light on how valid law can become unjust, demanding actions that may conflict with individual judgment or morality. It raises questions about natural law, the relationship between morality and law, and law’s ultimate purpose, suggesting that law and politics represent, at best, a relative good. It addresses the broader crisis of legal authority and state sovereignty, the expanding reach of state power, and whether law should instruct, command, or ultimately point beyond itself.
The End of Law is of interest to scholars in legal theory, political theology, and the philosophy of law.
US Allies in the Middle East Use Emergency Powers During Iran Conflict
The US/Israel–Iran war is already reshaping governance across the Middle East, not only through battlefield outcomes but through the expanded use of emergency powers. This analysis by ISSE Senior Fellow Paul Shaya examines how Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon are leveraging crisis conditions to enact political and institutional changes that extend beyond immediate security needs. In Israel, wartime procedures have enabled the passage of controversial legislation under reduced scrutiny, raising concerns about democratic oversight. Jordan has used the conflict to tighten restrictions on speech, media, and public assembly, reinforcing existing limits on civic space. Lebanon, by contrast, has invoked extraordinary measures to challenge Hizballah’s parallel authority and reassert state sovereignty. Together, these cases illustrate a broader pattern central to ISSE’s work: emergencies can create openings for durable shifts in governance that may outlast the crises that justified them.
Hungary’s Election as Baseline: Tracking a System of Embedded Exceptionality
Hungary’s upcoming election offers more than a test of electoral competition, it provides a vantage point for assessing a system shaped over time through the sustained integration of emergency powers. Under Viktor Orbán, successive crises including migration, COVID-19, and the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, have enabled the expansion and normalization of executive authority. This article adopts the concept of “exceptionality,” developed in recent scholarship by Przemyslaw Tacik and Gian-Giacomo Fusco, to describe how emergency-derived powers persist beyond formal declarations and become embedded in ordinary governance. Drawing on Kim Lane Scheppele’s analysis in the Journal of Democracy, it situates Hungary’s electoral dynamics within a broader restructuring of the political and legal environment. Elections continue, but the conditions under which they occur have been systematically redefined. The coming vote provides a baseline from which to evaluate how such a system operates in practice, and how it may evolve in the period that follows.