Ausnahme

»Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.« This is Carl Schmitt’s famous definition of the problem of sovereign state power. It is the definition of the threat of sovereign state power in two meanings of the word: the »normal situation« is threatened by chaotic, an-archic troubles; and it is threatened by a sovereign state who re-establishes the normal order by stepping outside of the rule of law. (..:) Giorgio Agamben has, with regard to the imperialistic world politics of the USA (and with regard to Italy under Berlusconi) strengthened Schmitt’s thesis and has formulated with Walter Benjamin: »The state of exception we are living in is the rule.«