Between the Norm and the Exception: The Frankfurt School and the Rule of Law (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

By William E. Scheuerman

Book Overview

This text contributes an historical insight to the ongoing debate over the future of the rule of law in welfare-state capitalist democracies. The core issue is whether or not society can offer its citizens welfare-state guarantees and still preserve the liberal vision of a norm-based legal system. Franz Neumann and Otto Kirchheimer, in an age dominated by Hitler and Stalin, sought to establish a sound theoretical basis for the rule of law ideal. As an outcome of their sophisticated understanding of the liberal political tradition, their writings suggest a theoretical missed opportunity, an alternative critical theory that might usefully be applied in understanding (and perhaps countering) the contemporary trend toward the deformalization of law.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262193515
• ISBN13: 9780262193511
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 341 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"