This paper explores the duality of emergency powers and criminal law in old and new formations of empire. Set against the backdrop of the US “war on terror”, Ben Natan makes comparisons between different examples of the empire’s relationship with enemy combatants. Focusing on Palestine/Israel, the scholar explores the duality created by emergency powers and criminal law from the late British Empire to contemporary Israel/Palestine as an “imperial formation”. The researcher also shows, by examining examples from Israel in the 1980s, how emergency powers constitute a punitive system that complements ordinary criminal law by prosecuting hostile populations who suffer from racism under a clear exclusionary and punitive legitimacy. For further details, click here