Tempering Power
Beyond the Rule of Law
Author(s): Martin Krygier
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Tempering Power
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What is the rule of law for? What does that take? Why does it matter? There is little clarity and less agreement about any of these questions. That is partly because they are hard, but it is also because we generally do not think especially well about them. Yet they are rarely more important than today, and there are better ways to think. In this seminal book, Martin Krygier combines an account of conventional assumptions, a fundamental critique of them, and an alternative way of thinking about the purpose, the value, and the significance of the rule of law, in light of the goal it should serve: tempering power. In this time of widespread intemperate abuse of power throughout the world, these concerns are not merely analytical, academic, or even legal. They are social, political, and moral, and everyone's business. And the stakes are high.
Reviews:
'Martin Krygier's Tempering Power is a tonic for disappointments with our tarnished democracies. It elegantly reconfigures how we think about the rule of law, its history and future as a concept. Krygier shows how tempering power is a fertile foundation for a more decent constitutional architecture, and a civil society architecture, for the dangerous challenges of this century. It is no less than a foundation that can help to prevent wars, help prevent ecological collapse, moderate the burgeoning globalization of disease, temper the excesses and hallucinations of AIs. This is a meaning-making book for readers who care about the fate of freedom for an era of daunting challenges.'
John Braithwaite, Australian National University
'This is the manifesto that interdisciplinary scholars of political liberalism, of transitions away from tyranny, despotism, concentrated and wild power, have long awaited. Tempering Power presents a declaration of emancipation from the endless rule-of-law definitions, measurements, and implementation indicators that have diverted attention for too long from cornerstones of the good political society. By richly contextualizing rule-of-law, and its place among other social institutions, practices, and ways of being in society, Krygier turns our eyes upon a greater good, convincing us of a new and better way forward. Brilliantly crafted and engagingly accessible, this political sociology of law could not be more timely for scholars, citizens and rulers, as the seductions of untempered power are manifested by would-be demagogues on every continent.'
Terence Halliday, Research Professor Emeritus, American Bar Foundation, and co-editor of the book series on lawyers and political liberalism
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