Permanent State Of Emergency: Unchecked Executive Power And The Demise
Of The Rule Of Law

Product Description

In the wake of the attacks of September 11 2001 the United States launched initiatives that test the limits of international human rights law The indefinite detention & torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay targeted killing & mass surveillance require an expansion of executive authority that negates the rule of law In Permanent State of Emergency Ryan Alford establishes that the ongoing failure to address human rights abuses is a symptom of the most serious constitutional crisis in American history Instead of curbing the increase in executive power Congress & the courts facilitated the breakdown of the nation's constitutional order & set the stage for presidential supremacy The presidency Alford argues is now more than imperial it is an elective dictatorship Providing both an overview & a systematic analysis of the new regime he objectively demonstrates that it does not meet even the minimum requirements of the rule of law At this critical juncture in American democracy Permanent State of Emergency alerts the public to the structural transformation of the state & reiterates the importance of the constitutional limits of the American presidency