States of Exception or Exceptional States

This book explores the application of the work of the philosopher Giorgio Agamben to the post-Arab Uprisings in the Middle East, considering the evolution of regime-society relations that ultimately erupted in violence in the early months of 2011. Agamben's ideas of the state of exception and bare life provide important intellectual tools to understand the nature of sovereignty and the regulation of life, which has largely been missing in the study of the region. Filling a theoretical and empirical gap by exploring the concept of the 'state of exception' via a multidisciplinary approach, Simon Mabon, Sanaa Alsarghali and contributors in the fields of political science, law and philosophy offer a unique set of perspectives analysing how politics and law combine to facilitate the misuse of executive powers.

Simon Mabon is Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, UK, where he directs SEPAD and the Richardson Institute. Sanaa Alsarghali is Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at An-Najaj National University, Palestine, where she is the Director of the Constitutional Studies Center. Adel Ruished is PhD Researcher in Politics and International Relations in the Department of Philosophy, Politics and Religion, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University, UK.

List of Contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction 1. States of Exception, Bare Life and Agamben in the Middle East Simon Mabon, Lancaster University, UK 2. The Gulf Cooperation Council Police Imagined: The State of Exception and Transnational Policing Staci Strobl, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Simon Mabon, Lancaster University, UK 3. Claiming Agency in the Iraqi State of Exception Edith Szanto , University of Alabama, USA 4. Institutionalizing Authoritarianism: Egypt, Al Sisi and the State of Exception Lucia Ardovini, Lancaster University, UK 5. A Forced Marriage? Palestine and the State of Exception Sanaa Alsarghali, An-Najah National University, Palestine Chapter 6: States of Exception and Emergency in the Post Arab Uprisings Middle East Lucia Ardovini, Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Sweden 6. Soverign Power in an Icy Climate: An Exploration of Violence, Environmental Challenges and Displacement in the Bekka Valley, Lebanon Ana Maria Kumarasamy, Lancaster University, UK 7. Penal Portents, Penal Precedents and Spectacles of Unbearable Life Madonna Kalousian, Lancaster University, UK 8. The Politics of Secular Cultural Property in East Jerusalem: The Case of Birket Hamam Al-Batrak Adel Ruished, Lancaster University, UK 9. Biopolitics, Destituent Resistance and Power-Sharing in Post-War Lebanon John Nagle, Queen's University Belfast, UK Concluding Observations Index