The article deals with the history of state exception in France since the Algerian War. From this point of view, what is happening in France falls into two overlapping genealogies of exception: a colonial genealogy of exceptionalist logics, in which Algeria plays a central part; and a more metropolitan genealogy of political repression that could be traced back to the monarchy. The author thus divides her remarks into three sections. First, she addresses the double genealogy of exception in France; second, the discriminatory character of the exception; and last, the normalization of exception.

This article advocates the use of a “global conjunctural frame” to explore the martial law crisis provoked by the actions of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol in December 2024. It does so by tracking ongoing discussions among progressive intellectuals in South Korea and the contributors to this thematic section about the nature of Yoon’s attempted self-coup and the structures that enabled it with a focus on how the event and its aftermath resonates with notions of late or untimely forms of fascism. The article shows how far-right reactions involve a disturbing reworking of an enduring Cold War politics across global, national, and everyday scales to amplify resentments and antagonisms brought apart partly through structural changes associated with neoliberalism. It then reviews some of the ideas about the creation of a Seventh Republic that have emerged during Yoon’s impeachment and that advocate constitutional reforms to address this troubling conjuncture and recognize the new solidarities formed in defending democracy in South Korea…

Are citizens willing to trade long-term democratic stability for short-term security? We explore this question in Ecuador, where the powers of the executive and military have recently expanded in response to a dramatic rise in violent organized crime. Ahead of a national referendum proposing the expansion of these powers, we conducted a nationwide survey experiment. We find that informing citizens about the democratic risks of militarization — such as erosion of the rule of law or a heightened risk of an executive coup — significantly reduces support for a militarized approach to public security. This effect holds even when respondents are told that militarization may reduce violence. Our findings suggest that awareness of the potential democratic costs of widely used enforcement strategies, such as the militarization of security, could help prevent democratic backsliding in the face of heightened crime and violence…

This article analyzes the effectiveness of the right to seek asylum in the Hungarian legal system in the most recent emergency contexts. First, the legislative changes adopted following the so-called “migration crisis of 2015” are outlined, whereby the aim was to prevent access to the right to asylum. The measures introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic followed such a restrictive path. The article also assesses the conformity of the new measures with European and international law. To conclude, the armed conflict in Ukraine led to the coexistence of multiple emergency regimes, in which there is little room left to the effective exercise of the right to seek asylum…

Almost half of the political life has been experienced under the state of emergency and state of siege policies in the Turkish Republic. In spite of such a striking number and continuity in the deployment of legal emergency powers, there are just a few legal and political studies examining the reasons for such permanency in governing practices. To fill this gap, this paper aims to discuss one of the most important sources of the ‘permanent’ political crisis in the country: the historical evolution of legal emergency power. In order to highlight how these policies have intensified the highly fragile citizenship regime by weakening the separation of power, repressing the use of political rights and increasing the discretionary power of both the executive and judiciary authorities, the paper sheds light on the emergence and production of a specific form of legality based on the idea of emergency and the principle of executive prerogative…

This study examines the exercise of presidential powers in emergency situations within the framework of Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution, focusing on constitutional limits and legal guarantees. Using a qualitative approach with a normative juridical methodology, the research analyzes constitutional provisions, statutory regulations, and judicial practices to evaluate the effectiveness of Indonesia's legal framework in balancing crisis management with the preservation of democratic principles. The findings reveal ambiguities in emergency criteria, gaps in accountability mechanisms, and concerns over proportionality in restricting fundamental rights. Comparative insights and recommendations are provided to enhance legal clarity, strengthen oversight, and safeguard constitutional democracy during emergencies…

In January 2024, following a series of dramatic public security incidents, including the escape from prison of Adolfo Macias (“Fito”), the leader of the violent Ecuadoran gang Los Choneros, and the takeover of an Ecuadoran television station during a live broadcast, the newly elected government of Daniel Noboa declared a “state of internal warfare” in the country.  Through Presidential Decree 111, he designated 22 violent criminal entities operating in the country as “terrorist organizations” and authorized the employment of the Armed Forces in a broad range of security operations from supporting the control of the nation’s interior and borders, to deployment in prisons, to operations against illegal mining…

President Erdoğan and the AKP government initiated a comprehensive restoration process immediately after the failed coup in mid-July 2016. In fact, the country has been experiencing a very comprehensive and violent regime transformation since this time. I assert that recent political developments paved the way for institutionalization of a ‘plebiscitary presidential regime’ that depends on a particular combination of supreme power of the leader, an extremely weak parliament, and elections of a plebiscitary character. In this context, the paper aims to shed light on the role of the new strategic legalism which allows rule of law to be replaced by a rule by law approach, the executive prerogative principle to be dominant, and the law to be used for demobilization, all playing a highly critical role in the suppression of democratic opposition…

The objective of this article is to demonstrate how Colombia's mandatory preventive lock-down decrees during Covid-19 bypassed the constitutional controls designed to regulate states of exception. This situation resulted in a violation of the fundamental right to free movement. The methodology used in this study begins with an examination of the mandatory preventive lockdown decrees. It then continues with an analysis of the legal foundations on which these decrees were based to justify exceptional orders. Finally, the article reviews the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Colombia and the Consejo de Estado, focusing on the reasons both courts were unable to exercise control over these decrees. The conclusion is that these decrees circumvented automatic constitutional controls, and any legal challenge against them proved ineffective due to procedural delays.…