Transition, State of exception or Exceptional states: Constitutional Challenges in the MENA region

Organized by Sciences Po Law School, the Constitutional Studies Center at An-Najah National University, Palestine, and the Société française de philosophie politique et juridique (SFPJ).

Join us for a discussion between law and politics, where experts will be addressing issues of transition and states of exception, and the interplay between the ruled and the rulers in the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA region). A major focus will be the interdisciplinary work of S. Alsarghali, S. Mabon, A. Ruished (eds), States of Exception or Exceptional States Law, Politics and Giorgio Agamben in the Middle East, I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2022.

In the shadowed interstices of power and authority, the “state of exception”, as conceptualized by Giorgio Agamben, emerges as a liminal space where governance detours from the normative path, suspending legal protections. Like a landscape, it is a terrain where the colonial constructs of "othering" find fertile ground. Within this domain, individuals become mere life forms—bereft of political value, rendered voiceless. Channeling Edward Said's eloquent critique of imperialist narratives, one could argue that the state of exception allows for the perpetual marginalization of the subaltern, where their stories are silenced, their identities overshadowed, and their rights negated. It's a space of both Agamben's juridical ambiguities and Said's cultural
dislocations.

Full programme (PDF, 140 Ko)

More information

The conference takes place in room 907 (9, rue de la Chaise).

Event open to Sciences Po community members only.

Contact: events.edd@sciencespo.fr