Crisis and Social Order in the Post 9/11 Era: Sovereignty, Rule of Law and the Case of Maher Arar

Abstract

Canada’s political and juridical spheres have transformed post 9/11. Borrowing from the analytic framework of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben and Jacques Derrida, I will examine these transformations philosophically and sociologically. One of the aims of this essay is to dispel liberal views that maintain that emergency rule is aberrational; on the contrary, I argue that emergency rule is part of the ‘normal juridical order’. Another aim of this essay is to analyze how a perceived crisis shapes the modus operandi of the state and law. The third aim of this essay is to show how state power works under emergency rule. In terms of the former and latter, I will focus on the power the state has to produce ‘bare life’ and rogue states. Finally, this essay will examine the case of Mr. Maher Arar to illustrate the intellectual and material significance of these transformations in Canada.