<ul>In fact, the exercise of emergency powers is a phenomenon common to both democratic and undemocratic governments, the only difference between the two being the presence or absence of check and balances to prevent the abuse and arbitrary use of the emergency powers by the government.1</ul> In order to interrogate how far a state can go in legitimising arbitrariness, it is important to question whether a juridical system can provide its own suspension, as well as critically assess which scenarios provide for a state of exception or a state of emergency since vagueness can be exploited to the detriment of civil liberties of citizens and the rule of law. The main concern of the study refers to the fact that a state of exception and a state of emergency are the common denominator between the state of law, totalitarian state and authoritarian state. Emergencies situations can be considered as a threat for the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, because separation of powers, right to a fair trial and accountability are no longer respected. From a theoretical viewpoint, two conceptions manifest themselves; the first being where a state of exception is located within a juridical order and a second location found within an extra juridical approach. Fundamentally, the nature and the function of the state of emergency and the state of exception have therefore to be contextualised for the purpose of legitimacy, accountability and relevance. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

The performance of the nation‟s public schools continues to be a concern of policymakers, educators, and parents. Stakeholders cite the lack of academic achievement, disruptive student behavior, and failure to provide students with a safe and orderly school environment as evidence of being unsuccessful. To ensure school districts, schools, administrators, teachers, and students meet acceptable performance standards, states are implementing a variety of accountability policies. Two of the more controversial accountability approaches are state takeovers of local school districts and the reconstitution of schools. At least 29 states have enacted policies that allow the takeover of a school district. Changes in statute during the 1991 legislative session authorized the first takeover (conservatorship) section of the law in the state of Mississippi. Sections 37-17-6 and 37-17-7 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, describes the rationale for the initiation of the takeover process. To date, the Commission on School Accreditation (CSA) and the State Board of Education (SBE) have requested the Governor declare a state of emergency on 13 occasions in 12 Mississippi school districts. The purpose of this study was to determine what led to the state takeover of Sunflower County School District (SCSD), determine the takeover process used by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), and make recommendations to the MDE that will improve the sustainability of the success of the state takeover process after the conservator is removed from the district and the district regains control. The findings presented in this study are based on the analysis of data collected during the on-site evaluation of the school district. The SCSD was not fully compliant with any one of the 37 process standards as published in the Mississippi Public School Accountability Standards, 2009. Governor Haley Barbour signed a Proclamation in response to the Resolutions of the CSA and the SBE. The Proclamation declared that a state of emergency did exist in the SCSD that jeopardized the safety, security, and educational interests of the students enrolled in that district. The state of emergency was related to serious violations of accreditation standards, state law, and federal law.

This thesis examines the role of necessity, as a defence to State responsibility, in international law. Necessity provides a State with a defence to the responsibility that would otherwise arise from its breach of an international obligation where the only way that State can safeguard an essential interest from a grave and imminent peril is to breach an obligation owed to a less imperilled State. It is a defence that has generated a considerable body of jurisprudence in recent years and yet it continues to be plagued by a perception that States have abused it in the past and by fears that States will abuse it in the future - 'necessity', declared the German Chancellor on the eve of World War I, 'knows no law'. This thesis contends that this perception is flawed and these fears are unfounded. The main claim of this thesis is that necessity operates as a safety valve within the law of State responsibility that mediates between the binding quality of international obligations and the harsh consequences that may follow from requiring compliance with those obligations at all costs. This safety valve promotes the reasonable application of international law and it recognises that international law must sometimes bend so that it does not break. The thesis bears out this claim by contending that necessity has a stronger pedigree than is commonly appreciated and that it is solidly grounded in, and its contours are constrained by, customary international law. It charts those contours by first examining the scope of the obligations to which necessity may provide a defence, which includes examining how necessity relates to fields of law that contain their own safety valves regulating emergency situations. It then proceeds to examine the conditions that a State must satisfy in order to establish necessity and it finally examines the consequences of necessity, including for the stability of international law. The thesis concludes that any suggestion that 'necessity knows no law' has no place in international law today.

Emergency regimes as a legacy of French colonialism in Cameroon remain a key instrument to legalising strategies of control and subjugation of people. Officials in the country have been relying on these regimes not to save the state from a potential threat of war or invasion but to deny a fair democratic game, eliminate political opponents and keep control of power, people and resources. The core arguments of the present study devoted to emergency regimes in contemporary democracies with strong emphasis on Cameroon lies in its conceptual framing which is a clear contextualisation of the problem of the exception in the colonial period. In elucidating the situation in Cameroon, the study hilights how the permanent recourse to emergency regimes within the colony was central to Europeans’ tactics in their strategies of control and domination of colonised people. Starting with detailed historical analysis grounded on colonial and postcolonial experiences in Cameroon (and even Algeria), the study attempts to shift the understanding of the theories on the exception and sovereign violence by placing contemporary legal and philosophical debates on the exception in the context in which they originally emerged, a means of legitimating the subjugation of colonised peoples. More specifically, the thesis shows how the country’s colonial past strongly influences the current state’s structures through a basic reliance on emergency measures which became normalised to a point where law’s force has been reduced to the zero point of its own content. The draconian measures have been routinised and have successfully moved from the exceptional sphere to that of the normality. Additionally, patterns of rule by ordinance and decree were put in place in the early ‘post-independence’ period, and have now become the norm in Cameroon. As consequences, the process matters of justice are reduced to bare legal force, and in that process the legitimacy of both state and law are compromised, rendering subjects politically jaundiced and demoralised. The net effect of such developments appears to be detrimental to the very foundation of the state which is then subject to a process of disintegration. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Jurisprudence / LLD / Unrestricted

A aplicação de gestão de riscos em eventos extremos como a seca é um fator primordial para redução de impactos sociais, além de auxiliar na utilização racional dos recursos naturais e financeiros. Na busca da eficiência da minimização dos efeitos da seca, vários países têm investido em estudos que utilizam índices para detectá-la, quantificá-la e monitorá-la. Entre os índices mais conhecidos têm-se o Índice Padronizado de Precipitação (SPI), que avalia a variação da precipitação em várias escalas de tempo, e o Índice de Aridez (IA), utilizado pela UNESCO para caracterização climática. Aliado a estes índices são desenvolvidos planos de gestão de riscos da seca. No Brasil a política de secas sempre foi voltada a gestão de crises, resultando num problema crônico de grandes impactos no Nordeste e, recentemente, também no Rio Grande do Sul (RS), como nos anos de 2004 e 2005. Nesta época, mais de 450 municípios decretaram situação de emergência devido à seca e houve a maior quebra de safra da história. Esta pesquisa objetivou avaliar a metodologia de gestão de secas utilizada pela Defesa Civil – RS, propondo a utilização de sistema de alerta baseado no SPI e IA e a adoção de um sistema de gestão de riscos fundamentado na avaliação, previsão e planejamento, composto de critérios objetivos na decretação de situação de emergência e estado de calamidade pública, além de diretrizes para um plano de ações para seca. Na comparação dos resultados dos índices de seca com as decretações de situação de emergência devido à seca no período de 1991 a 2005, o número de coincidências foi bastante baixo. Além disso, as regiões secas detectadas pelos índices de seca foram diferentes das regiões de maiores freqüências de decretações. Através desta análise pode-se concluir que a metodologia utilizada atualmente para gestão de secas não é eficiente. Um sistema de alerta para secas de curto prazo (agrícola) e longo prazo (hidrológica), baseado nos índices IA (mensal e trimestral) e SPI (anual), respectivamente, foi proposto e simulado. O IA identificou a região sul do RS como a mais propícia a períodos secos no estado, já o SPI identificou a região nordeste. Através dos resultados pôde-se concluir que os dois índices identificaram os mesmos períodos secos (meses e anos), porém, devido às regiões detectadas, o IA foi o que melhor representou a realidade climática do estado. A partir destes resultados foi proposta uma reformulação na metodologia da Defesa Civil considerando-se o sistema de alerta e análises de dados regionais para identificar as regiões mais vulneráveis a períodos secos. / The risk management in hazards like drought is very important to reduce social impacts, and to rationalize the natural and financial resources. To minimize the drought impacts, several countries take into account some indexes to its detection, quantification and evaluation. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is very applied around the world, and evaluates the variation of the precipitation in some timescale. Also, the Aridity Index (AI) is applied by UNESCO for climate characterization. These indexes should be a part of the plan of drought management risk. Usually, the drought policy of Brazil prioritizes the crisis management, with several negative impacts for decades in the Brazilian Northeast, and nowadays in Rio Grande do Sul. In 2004 and 2005, 450 municipals declared state of emergency by drought, with the biggest loss of harvest in local history. The research aim is to evaluate the drought management methodology of the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, and propose warning system based on SPI and AI as part of a risk management system to assess, forecast and plan actions against drought. This risk management system should include objective criteria to declare state of emergency and state of calamity, and guidelines for a drought plan. Comparing the results of drought indexes and declarations of state of emergence from 1991 to 2005, the number of coincidences was very low. Also, the dry regions detected by drought indexes were different of the regions with state of emergence. Thus, it can be concluded that the actual methodology for drought management is inefficient. It was proposed and tested a warning system for droughts of short term (agricultural), based on AI (monthly and quarterly), and droughts of long term (hydrological), based on SPI (annual). The AI identified the south of state as the drier, and the SPI identified the northeast. Both indexes identified the same periods of drought (months and years), but the AI, due the dry sites identified, best represents the local climatology. Thus, it was proposed a recast of the Civil Defense methodology for drought management, considering warning system and analysis of local data to identify the regions most vulnerable to dry periods.

A aplicação de gestão de riscos em eventos extremos como a seca é um fator primordial para redução de impactos sociais, além de auxiliar na utilização racional dos recursos naturais e financeiros. Na busca da eficiência da minimização dos efeitos da seca, vários países têm investido em estudos que utilizam índices para detectá-la, quantificá-la e monitorá-la. Entre os índices mais conhecidos têm-se o Índice Padronizado de Precipitação (SPI), que avalia a variação da precipitação em várias escalas de tempo, e o Índice de Aridez (IA), utilizado pela UNESCO para caracterização climática. Aliado a estes índices são desenvolvidos planos de gestão de riscos da seca. No Brasil a política de secas sempre foi voltada a gestão de crises, resultando num problema crônico de grandes impactos no Nordeste e, recentemente, também no Rio Grande do Sul (RS), como nos anos de 2004 e 2005. Nesta época, mais de 450 municípios decretaram situação de emergência devido à seca e houve a maior quebra de safra da história. Esta pesquisa objetivou avaliar a metodologia de gestão de secas utilizada pela Defesa Civil – RS, propondo a utilização de sistema de alerta baseado no SPI e IA e a adoção de um sistema de gestão de riscos fundamentado na avaliação, previsão e planejamento, composto de critérios objetivos na decretação de situação de emergência e estado de calamidade pública, além de diretrizes para um plano de ações para seca. Na comparação dos resultados dos índices de seca com as decretações de situação de emergência devido à seca no período de 1991 a 2005, o número de coincidências foi bastante baixo. Além disso, as regiões secas detectadas pelos índices de seca foram diferentes das regiões de maiores freqüências de decretações. Através desta análise pode-se concluir que a metodologia utilizada atualmente para gestão de secas não é eficiente. Um sistema de alerta para secas de curto prazo (agrícola) e longo prazo (hidrológica), baseado nos índices IA (mensal e trimestral) e SPI (anual), respectivamente, foi proposto e simulado. O IA identificou a região sul do RS como a mais propícia a períodos secos no estado, já o SPI identificou a região nordeste. Através dos resultados pôde-se concluir que os dois índices identificaram os mesmos períodos secos (meses e anos), porém, devido às regiões detectadas, o IA foi o que melhor representou a realidade climática do estado. A partir destes resultados foi proposta uma reformulação na metodologia da Defesa Civil considerando-se o sistema de alerta e análises de dados regionais para identificar as regiões mais vulneráveis a períodos secos. / The risk management in hazards like drought is very important to reduce social impacts, and to rationalize the natural and financial resources. To minimize the drought impacts, several countries take into account some indexes to its detection, quantification and evaluation. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is very applied around the world, and evaluates the variation of the precipitation in some timescale. Also, the Aridity Index (AI) is applied by UNESCO for climate characterization. These indexes should be a part of the plan of drought management risk. Usually, the drought policy of Brazil prioritizes the crisis management, with several negative impacts for decades in the Brazilian Northeast, and nowadays in Rio Grande do Sul. In 2004 and 2005, 450 municipals declared state of emergency by drought, with the biggest loss of harvest in local history. The research aim is to evaluate the drought management methodology of the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, and propose warning system based on SPI and AI as part of a risk management system to assess, forecast and plan actions against drought. This risk management system should include objective criteria to declare state of emergency and state of calamity, and guidelines for a drought plan. Comparing the results of drought indexes and declarations of state of emergence from 1991 to 2005, the number of coincidences was very low. Also, the dry regions detected by drought indexes were different of the regions with state of emergence. Thus, it can be concluded that the actual methodology for drought management is inefficient. It was proposed and tested a warning system for droughts of short term (agricultural), based on AI (monthly and quarterly), and droughts of long term (hydrological), based on SPI (annual). The AI identified the south of state as the drier, and the SPI identified the northeast. Both indexes identified the same periods of drought (months and years), but the AI, due the dry sites identified, best represents the local climatology. Thus, it was proposed a recast of the Civil Defense methodology for drought management, considering warning system and analysis of local data to identify the regions most vulnerable to dry periods.

A aplicação de gestão de riscos em eventos extremos como a seca é um fator primordial para redução de impactos sociais, além de auxiliar na utilização racional dos recursos naturais e financeiros. Na busca da eficiência da minimização dos efeitos da seca, vários países têm investido em estudos que utilizam índices para detectá-la, quantificá-la e monitorá-la. Entre os índices mais conhecidos têm-se o Índice Padronizado de Precipitação (SPI), que avalia a variação da precipitação em várias escalas de tempo, e o Índice de Aridez (IA), utilizado pela UNESCO para caracterização climática. Aliado a estes índices são desenvolvidos planos de gestão de riscos da seca. No Brasil a política de secas sempre foi voltada a gestão de crises, resultando num problema crônico de grandes impactos no Nordeste e, recentemente, também no Rio Grande do Sul (RS), como nos anos de 2004 e 2005. Nesta época, mais de 450 municípios decretaram situação de emergência devido à seca e houve a maior quebra de safra da história. Esta pesquisa objetivou avaliar a metodologia de gestão de secas utilizada pela Defesa Civil – RS, propondo a utilização de sistema de alerta baseado no SPI e IA e a adoção de um sistema de gestão de riscos fundamentado na avaliação, previsão e planejamento, composto de critérios objetivos na decretação de situação de emergência e estado de calamidade pública, além de diretrizes para um plano de ações para seca. Na comparação dos resultados dos índices de seca com as decretações de situação de emergência devido à seca no período de 1991 a 2005, o número de coincidências foi bastante baixo. Além disso, as regiões secas detectadas pelos índices de seca foram diferentes das regiões de maiores freqüências de decretações. Através desta análise pode-se concluir que a metodologia utilizada atualmente para gestão de secas não é eficiente. Um sistema de alerta para secas de curto prazo (agrícola) e longo prazo (hidrológica), baseado nos índices IA (mensal e trimestral) e SPI (anual), respectivamente, foi proposto e simulado. O IA identificou a região sul do RS como a mais propícia a períodos secos no estado, já o SPI identificou a região nordeste. Através dos resultados pôde-se concluir que os dois índices identificaram os mesmos períodos secos (meses e anos), porém, devido às regiões detectadas, o IA foi o que melhor representou a realidade climática do estado. A partir destes resultados foi proposta uma reformulação na metodologia da Defesa Civil considerando-se o sistema de alerta e análises de dados regionais para identificar as regiões mais vulneráveis a períodos secos. / The risk management in hazards like drought is very important to reduce social impacts, and to rationalize the natural and financial resources. To minimize the drought impacts, several countries take into account some indexes to its detection, quantification and evaluation. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is very applied around the world, and evaluates the variation of the precipitation in some timescale. Also, the Aridity Index (AI) is applied by UNESCO for climate characterization. These indexes should be a part of the plan of drought management risk. Usually, the drought policy of Brazil prioritizes the crisis management, with several negative impacts for decades in the Brazilian Northeast, and nowadays in Rio Grande do Sul. In 2004 and 2005, 450 municipals declared state of emergency by drought, with the biggest loss of harvest in local history. The research aim is to evaluate the drought management methodology of the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, and propose warning system based on SPI and AI as part of a risk management system to assess, forecast and plan actions against drought. This risk management system should include objective criteria to declare state of emergency and state of calamity, and guidelines for a drought plan. Comparing the results of drought indexes and declarations of state of emergence from 1991 to 2005, the number of coincidences was very low. Also, the dry regions detected by drought indexes were different of the regions with state of emergence. Thus, it can be concluded that the actual methodology for drought management is inefficient. It was proposed and tested a warning system for droughts of short term (agricultural), based on AI (monthly and quarterly), and droughts of long term (hydrological), based on SPI (annual). The AI identified the south of state as the drier, and the SPI identified the northeast. Both indexes identified the same periods of drought (months and years), but the AI, due the dry sites identified, best represents the local climatology. Thus, it was proposed a recast of the Civil Defense methodology for drought management, considering warning system and analysis of local data to identify the regions most vulnerable to dry periods.

The state of emergency presents an array of problems for the protection of human rights. Foucault’s biopolitics and Agamben’s concept of the state of exception have been instrumental in the formulation of analyses which seek to understand the full extent of this area of tension. However, there is scope for the study of the state of emergency in a theoretical context which situates this mechanism within the broader scheme of human rights. In drawing upon these spheres of study and taking a distinctly theoretical approach to the research problem, the aim of this paper is to reappraise the ways in which commonly cited theories are applied.

4 Implementation of the state of emergency in the Czech Republic during the coronavirus pandemic Abstrakt The thesis entitled "The application of the state of emergency in the Czech Republic in the context of the coronavirus pandemic" responds to the current events surrounding the Covid- 19 pandemic. The thesis provides insight into the background of the pandemic in the Czech Republic. The thesis examines the application of the state of emergency as a tool to tackle the pandemic situation and how the legitimacy of this state of emergency and the restrictive measures taken along with it are assessed by society. The thesis focuses on the factors that have fundamentally influenced the people's perception of the restrictive measures taken by the government. Indeed, trust in the anti-pandemic measures themselves are an important part of their effectiveness. Key Words: state of emergency, pandemic, Covid-19, coronavirus, legitimacy, legality, government, Czech Republic

This paper examines the anti-terrorist strategy developed by Peru from the paradigm of the constitutional rule of law. One expression of this counter-insurgency fight was the nearly permanent establishment of states of emergency and the adoption of criminal emergency laws, which are critically analyzed, because they led to serious results on fundamental rights. In that sense, it is shown, with severe concern, the establishment by the Peruvian Government of legal “black holes” and “gray holes” at the expense of victims of enforced disappearance. The author concludes by assessing the position of the courts and the challenge they have in elaborating a democratic and constitutional model for combating terrorism. / El presente trabajo examina, desde el paradigma del Estado constitucional de derecho, la estrategia antiterrorista que desarrolló el Perú. Una de las expresiones de esta lucha antisubversiva fue la instauración casi permanente de los regímenes de excepción y la aprobación de las leyes penales de emergencia, las cuales son analizadas críticamente, pues propiciaron graves afectaciones a los derechos fundamentales. En ese sentido, se muestra, con  grave  preocupación,  la  creación por  parte  del  Estado  peruano  de«agujeros negros» y «agujeros grises» legales en desmedro de las víctimas de desaparición forzada. Finaliza el autor haciendo un balance de la postura de los órganos jurisdiccionales y el reto que tienen en la construcción del modelo democrático y constitucional de lucha contra el terrorismo.