Research Paper Number

42/2008

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Keywords

Agamben; declaration; duty to rescue; Emergencies; emergency assistance; governance; governments; Katrina; liberalism; public emergencies; public goods; roles; rule of law; Sorrell; states; supreme emergencies; Walzer

Abstract

In this article, I seek to make sense of the oft-invoked idea of ‘public emergency’ and of some of its supposedly radical moral implications. I challenge controversial claims by Tom Sorell, Michael Walzer, and Giorgio Agamben, and argue for a more discriminating understanding of the category and of its moral force.

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