The Dual State, first published in 1941, remains one of the most erudite books on the logic of dictatorship. It was the first comprehensive analysis of the rise and nature of National Socialism and the only such analysis written from within Hitler's Germany. Ernst Fraenkel's courageous ethnography of law was widely acclaimed upon publication, and it has influenced considerably postwar debates about the nature of the Third Reich. But The Dual State also has relevance for the study of dictatorship in the twenty-first century. Fraenkel's innovative concept of the dual state, with its two halvesthe normative state (which generally respects its own laws and regulations) and the prerogative state (which violates them wantonly) illuminates powerfully the complicated relationship between law and order in many countries around the world. It speaks directly to the idea of an authoritarian rule of law. This republication of Fraenkel's classic makes it once again available to scholars and students in law, the social sciences, and the humanities. It includes Fraenkel's 1974 preface to and two appendices from the first German editionnever before published in English. An extensive introduction by Jens Meierhenrich places Fraenkel's ethnography of law in historical and theoretical context.

About the Author
Jens Meierhenrich is Associate Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science His books include Genocide: A Very Short Introduction and Genocide: A Reader (both forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2014). Ernst Fraenkel (1898--1975) was an eminent political scientist who began his professional career as a labor lawyer in Weimar Germany. Forced to flee the Nazi dictatorship in 1938, he emigrated to the United States and worked as an adviser to the U.S. government. Fraenkel returned to Germany in 1951, where, as a professor at Berlins Freie Universitat, he played a leading role in establishing the discipline of political science in the country of his birth.


Book Information
ISBN 9780198716204
Author Ernst Fraenkel
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 412g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 20mm