State of necessity

Analysis of the Chilean practice of emergency

Authors

  • Adrián Serrano-Sanz Federación Española de Sociología

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.197.11

Abstract

The study of formal matters about the states of emergency omits its concrete practice and, thus, its political objectives. In order to delimit its utility, the analysis should focus on the facts that caused the emergency throughout history in order to identify common elements among them. In this article, is developed the concept of state of necessity as a precursor of the state of emergency. To this aim, it is analysed the practice of emergency in Chile from the first time a state of emergency was decreed in 1837 until nowadays by identifying the emergency decrees since that year and the causes of them. The results demonstrate that the state of necessity is characterised by the indeterminacy of the facts that cause it. This indeterminacy relinquishes to the sovereign not only the power to decide on the state of emergency, but also to define the state of necessity.

Published

2022-10-10

Issue

Section

RESEARCH NOTES