Emergency Powers in Asia

Exploring the Limits of Legality
2-3 May 2008
NUS Faculty of Law Singapore

In early May 2008, a small group of international scholars gathered at NUS for an academic symposium, Emergency Powers in Asia: Exploring the Limits of Legality, under the auspices of the NUS Faculty of Law and the Asian Law Institute (ASLI). The overarching aim of the symposium was to explore theoretical and practice problems arising from the invocation of emergency powers by states in Asia, with a view to publishing a collection of essays on the subject.

The contemporary literature on emergency powers is dominated by scholars outside Asia who are writing primarily from and about a liberal-democratic perspective. The speakers at this symposium were encouraged to explore from the political and geographic standpoint of Asia the challenges posed by the invocation of emergency powers in Asia. Specifically, they examined whether these powers posed unique challenges in this context and whether they could be reconciled with aspirations of constitutionalism and legality.

Academic papers were presented by: Maitrii Aung-Thwin, Department of History, NUS; Albert Chen, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong; Simon Chesterman, Faculty of Law, NUS/NYU School of Law; Jacques DeLisle, University of Pennsylvania Law School; Michael Feener & Michelle Miller, Asia Research Institute, NUS; Mark Fenwick, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University, Fukuoka; Andrew Harding, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria; Anil Kalhan, Fordham Law School, New York; H.P. Lee, Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne; Nadirsyah Hosen, Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong; Clark Lombardi, University of Washington School of Law; Tayyab Mahmud, Seattle University School of Law; Vasuki Nesiah, Brown University; R. Pangalangan, University of the Philippines College of Law, Manila; Victor V. Ramraj, Faculty of Law, NUS; Kevin Tan, Rajaratnam School of International Studies; and Arun Thiruvengadam, Faculty of Law, NUS.

The symposium was co-organized by Associate Professor Victor V. Ramraj and Assistant Professor Arun K. Thiruvengadam of the NUS Faculty of Law. They are now editing the papers presented at the symposium and intend to publish the collection of essays in 2009. The symposium was funded by a generous research grant from the National University of Singapore.

For more information, please contact Victor V. Ramraj (lawvvr@nus.edu.sg) or
Arun K. Thiruvengadam (lawakt@nus.edu.sg).