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The state of exception—that is, the suspension of the legal order we are accustomed to considering a temporary and extraordinary measure—is today becoming, before our very eyes, a normal paradigm of government, increasingly determining both the foreign and domestic policies of states. Agamben's book is the first attempt to provide a systematic historical reconstruction and, at the same time, to analyse the reasons and meaning of its current evolution, from Hitler to Guantanamo.

When the state of exception tends to merge with the rule, the institutions and balances of democratic constitutions can no longer function, and the very boundary between democracy and absolutism seems to disappear. Moving in the no-man's-land between politics and law, between the legal order and life—where researchers do not like to venture—Agamben dismantles one by one the legal theories of the state of exception and sheds new light on the hidden relationship between violence and law.

Giorgio Agamben

Giorgio Agamben is one of the most hotly debated political philosophers today. His works on the political and legal paradigm of the West have caught the attention of philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and jurists alike, but his significance has been obscured by myths and misunderstandings. His works have been translated into more than 15 languages.