Unprecedented power cannot be constrained by law made before it exists
Evidence
Instrumentarian power has gathered strength outside of mankind but also outside of democracy. There can be no law to protect us from the unprecedented, and democratic societies, like the innocent world of the Tainos, are vulnerable to unprecedented power. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1637
Categorization
- DEFINE: Positions ‘instrumentarian power’ as a distinct category with distinctive qualities.
- XREF: connects to: Mystified arbitrary power becomes immune to legal restraint — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 628; Narrow concepts of legal validity fail to prevent official abuse of power — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 502; Sovereign power makes principles rather than obeying them (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Mystified arbitrary power becomes immune to legal restraint
#corroborates(0.82) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 628 - Sovereign power makes principles rather than obeying them
#corroborates(0.80) - Sovereignty produces a will to law rather than a rule of law
#corroborates(0.78) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 418 - Narrow concepts of legal validity fail to prevent official abuse of power
#corroborates(0.75) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 502 - An enforceable promise requires destroying one’s own power not to comply
#expands(0.72) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 345