Rethinking the Theory of State of Exception After the Coronavirus Pandemic? — The Case of Hungary

Abstract

This article focuses on today's most important debate on emergency theory in the context of coronavirus pandemic. The theory of the state of exception in constitutional law is a matured one in a global point of view. Nevertheless, after the measures taken by the Hungarian Government, there are real concerns on the applicability of the classical theories. The paper reflects on the mentioned issue by presenting the so-called classic theories of this phenomenon and also the most relevant measures taken by the Hungarian government in 2020. The question remains: is it possible to preserve constitutionalism in an age of state of emergencies?

The Extreme Right as a Defender of Human Rights? Parliamentary Debates on COVID-19 Emergency Legislation in Slovakia

“…227-30) feed into skepticism about human rights as universal pronouncements that are anything more than 'empty promises' (Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui 2005). Furthermore, they indicate that state sovereignty 'reasserts itself', prioritizing the responsibility to protect the survival of (some of) (Mészáros 2020) the state's citizens over anything else. Contemporary Western non-liberal theories of the exception have been primarily associated with the infamous Carl Schmitt (Weiler 2021) and were later developed by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben.…”