Emergency Powers and Political Theology

Emergency powers constitute the legal and constitutional measures by which states concentrate authority in exceptional circumstances. Rooted in the concept of the exception, these powers enable executives to suspend ordinary legal frameworks in order to respond to existential threats such as pandemics, terrorism or civil unrest. Political theology examines the ways in which secular political structures are informed by theological concepts of sovereignty and exception. It traces back to early modern theorists who equated divine authority with sovereign prerogative, culminating in the work of Carl Schmitt, who defined the sovereign as ‘he who decides on the exception’. In scholarly discourse, emergency powers are analysed not only as instruments of crisis management but also as mechanisms that may erode the separation of powers and curtail fundamental rights. Recent debates have focused on the tension between executive decisionism and constitutional restraints, the risk of democratic backsliding and the broader biopolitical implications of framing public health and security in terms of exception. The study of emergency powers and political theology thus spans normative theory, comparative constitutional practice and empirical analysis, offering insights into how legal orders adapt and sometimes falter under pressure.

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Emergency Powers and Political Theology publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in emergency powers and political theology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

State of exception: A situation in which a sovereign authority suspends normal legal rules to address an extraordinary threat.

Sovereign: The ultimate authority empowered to decide when and how legal norms may be set aside in emergencies.

Decisionism: A theoretical stance positing that the concrete decision of the sovereign holds primacy over established legal frameworks.

Political theology: The study of how political structures and concepts draw upon theological ideas, especially concerning sovereignty and exception.

References

1. This time is different?—on the use of emergency measures during the corona pandemic. European Journal of Law and Economics (2021).
2. Kierkegaard and Schmitt on the State of Exception. Journal of Law and Religion (2024).
3. Terrorism and emergency constitutions in the Muslim world. Journal of Peace Research (2021).