The thesis by Emily Hartz, The Zone of Twilight, studies how changing American Supreme Court justices have applied constitutional principles in cases related to emergency law and how - or whether - previous jurisprudence on national emergency is challenged by the nature of the terrorism conflict.

The problem of emergency challenges our understanding of the meaning and justification of law and has permeated legal and political philosophy since the Romans instituted the temporary dictatorship as a way of dealing with a crisis.

After the 9/11 attacks, the problem of emergency reemerged as the problem of how to deal effectively with the threat from terrorism without compromising democratic values. In this connection both the Bush Government and its critics have argued that the terrorism conflict threatens to explode existing legal paradigms. This thesis is challenged in the dissertation

Assessment committee:
Professor David Golove, New York University School of Law, USA
Professor Helle Porsdam, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Associate Professor Asger Sørensen, The Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark (chair)

Supervisors:
Professor, dr.theol. & phil. Peter Kemp, The Danish School of Education
Associate Professor Lars Erslev Andersenm, presently the Danish Institute for International Studies, Denmark
 

Venue: The Danish School of Education, lecture hall D169
Time:   September 4, 2009, 13.00-16.00

The thesis may be borrowed from the National Library of Education, Tuborgvej 164, 2400 Copenhagen NV.
The thesis may also be viewed at the office (A114b) of Nina Rasmussen