Empire, Emergency and International Law

John Reynolds is a Lecturer in International Law at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. His work focuses on the operation of law in contexts of conflict, crisis and coloniality. He teaches and writes on international law, social justice and critical legal theory with particular emphasis on race, imperialism and global North/South dynamics.

• Foreword; Prologue; Part I. Traditions of the Oppressed: 1. Emergency, colonialism and third world approaches to international law; 2. Racialisation and states of emergency; 3. Emergency doctrine: a colonial account; Part II. Empire's Law: 4. Emergency derogations and the international human rights project; 5. Kenya: a 'purely political' state of emergency; 6. The margin of appreciation doctrine: colonial origins; Part III. The Colonial Present: 7. Palestine: a 'scattered, shattered space of exception'?; 8. Australia: racialised emergency intervention; 9. International law, resistance and 'real' states of emergency; Bibliography.

'John Reynolds explores the development and operation of emergency rule in colonial territories, and the enduring influence of this model on emergency law and, indeed, international law. There is a great deal he illuminates in this book, which combines erudition with superbly clear writing. The book examines 'imperial emergency rule' - it could in fact be termed a global history of imperial emergency rule - and connects together accounts of emergency that are often treated separately: colonial emergencies, the impact of these emergencies on the drafting of international legal instruments, and contemporary settler colonialism. It is by drawing on this range of diverse yet related materials that Dr Reynolds provides such a far-reaching account of the complexities of how emergency law operates, and such an incisive understanding of how it produces resistance from below. Empire, Emergency and International Law is an eloquent and valuable book which provides enduring insights into a pervasive feature of our times.' Antony Anghie, author of Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law