An essential corrective to democratic theorists current obsession with carl schmitt emergency politics confronts the leading challenges of democratic theory the status of emergency powers the ground of legitimacy the scope of rights and offers a perspective that finds generative potential in the paradox that we the people are always and necessarily both laws authors and laws subjects. Emphasizing the connections between mere life and more life emergence and emergency honig argues that emergencies call us to attend anew to a neglected paradox of democratic politics that we need good citizens with aspirational ideals to make good politics while we need good politics to infuse citizens with idealism. Download citation emergency politics paradox law democracy this book intervenes in contemporary debates about the threat posed to democratic life by political emergencies. Pthis book intervenes in contemporary debates about the threat posed to democratic life by political emergencies must emergency necessarily enhance and centralize top down forms of sovereignty those who oppose executive branch enhancement often turn instead to law insisting on the sovereignty of the rule of law or demanding that law rather than force be used to resolve conflicts with . Emphasizing the connections between mere life and more life emergence and emergency honig argues that emergencies call us to attend anew to a neglected paradox of democratic politics that we need good citizens with aspirational ideals to make good politics while we need good politics to infuse citizens with idealism