Emergency powers in Asia exploring the limits of legality

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : emergency powers and constitutionalism in Asia / Victor V. Ramraj and Arun K. Thiruvengadam -- The emergency powers paradox / Victor V. Ramraj -- Emergency powers, constitutionalism and legal transplants : the East Asian experience / Albert H.Y. Chen -- Constitution and 'extraconstitution' : colonial emergency regimes in postcolonial India and Pakistan / Anil Kalhan -- The princely impostor : stories of law and pathology in the exercise of emergency powers / Vasuki Nesiah -- From Myanmar to Manila : a brief study of emergency powers in Southeast Asia / Kevin Y.L. Tan -- Discourses of emergency in colonial and postcolonial Burma / Maitrii Augn-Thwin -- Emergency and Islamic law in Aceh / Michelle Ann Miller and R. Michael Feener -- UNaccountable? : the United Nations, emergency powers and the rule of law in Asia / Simon Chesterman -- Emergency powers and the rule of law in Indonesia / Nadirsyah Hosen -- Emergency powers with a moustache : special powers, military rule and evolving constitutionalism in Thailand / Andrew Harding -- Emergency powers and the limits of constitutionalism in Japan / Mark Fenwick -- States of exception in an exceptional state : emergency powers law in China / Jacques DeLisle -- Constitutionalised emergency powers : a plague on Asian constitutionalism? / H.P. Lee -- Political emergencies in the Philippines : changing labels and the unchanging need for legitimacy / Raul C. Pangalangan -- Islamism as a response to emergency rule in Pakistan : the surprising proposal of Justice A.R. Cornelius / Clark B. Lombardi -- Asian judiciaries and emergency powers : reasons for optimism? / Arun K. Thiruvengadam.

"What is the relevance of contemporary debates over emergency powers for countries situated in Asia? What role does, and should, the constitution play in constraining these powers? The essays in this collection address these issues, drawing on emergency situations in over 20 countries in Asia as a ready-made laboratory for exploring the relationship between emergency powers and constitutionalism. This volume therefore rests squarely at the intersection of two debates - a debate over the ability of law to constrain the invocation and use of emergency powers by the executive in times of crisis, and a debate over the nature and viability of constitutionalism in Asia. At this intersection are fundamental questions about constitutionalism and the nature of the modern state, questions that invite legal, political, sociological and historical analysis"--Provided by publisher.