emergency law (lec 3) Flashcards
what was Agamben’s principle argument?
-The state of emergency has never been temporary
-we have always been in state of emergency, and all states slowly move to totalitarianism, irrespective of what we do
what was hobbes’ theory? what is it the basis for?
-state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short
-basis of absolute monarchy
what was locke’s theory? what was it the basis for?
-people have inalienable rights, government has social contract to protect those rights
-basis of democratic systems
what was Agamben’s argument with respect to the state of “the ban”
-law is in force but has no meaning
or
-law is in force but without significance
what does sovereign have the power to decide?
who is and is not part of the nation
sovereign is the only power that can do what?
create law and exempt itself from law
what is the concept of homo sacer?
sovereign has the power to exlude people from law
means “the sacred man”- one who can be killed but not sacrificed
what does homo sacer mean? difference b/w killed and sacrificed?
roman times: sacrified=holy
-homo sacer is opposite
-can be killed but NOT sacrificed
-making them unclean or in exile
with resepct to homo sacer, what can law be designed for?
sovereign has power to create homo sacer
can be designed to abandon these people
explain “the meaning of the law only applies in no longer applying”
homo sacer is the subject
simultaneously turned over to the law and excluded from it
the holocaust illustrates what principle brought forth by Agamben? explain how it demonstates this
only the sovereign can kill and not be guilty of homocide
Laws created to remove Jews from the law, to turn them into non-beings
what is the concept of “the ban”
rooted in the ability of the power of sovereign to exist is the power of sovereign to exclude
The state of exception/emergency is in place when?
the laws of the land don’t apply to the sovereign/government
why is the state of emergency the norm?
since sovereign power was created, it has always had the power to:
-will itself into existance
-create law
-exclude itself from it
-exclude others
according to Agamben, all states move towards totalitarianism. How does this happen?
since ww1, countries started to include state of emergency in their legislative laws
the more states relied on these powers, the more it became a way of governing
what was Canada’s first statute that spelled out it’s emergency power authority?
1914, War Measures Act
what did P.C 2384 of the War Measures Act allow the government to do?
arrest anyone that belonged to an “unlawful organization”
what was an “unlawful organization” defined as? what was an oversight with respect to this?
any group that advocated that the government, economic system or industry be changed by force
force was left undefined
after ww1, the emergency powers of War Measures Act were no longer in place, what did the government want to do with P.C 2384 and why?
government wanted to keep P.C 2384 because increase in labor radicalism as well as communist parties in canada.
government feared canada would end up like russia
how did Canada include P.C 2384 in its laws?
folded into section 98 of criminal code, now permanent
what was the issue with section 98 of the criminal code?
many terms left undefined
-force
-economic change
-unlawful organizations
-teaching/advocating
people were afraid to for example advocate for better labor conditions or that unions were unlawful
people turned on section 98, and was later reappealed but not completely, how was it still present?
crucial parts were put into other sections of the criminal code
what is the FLQ crisis?
francophones felt oppresed by anglophones and wanted to seperate Qubec from Canada
they belived violence was the only answer
how was the FLQ crisis controlled?
P.C 2384
what does section 98 define today?
threats to the security of canada
what relies on defining the threats of security today?
current day emergency act
