Arendt and Analogies

International Politics volume 45, pages497–505(2008)Cite this article

Abstract

In this essay, I review the argument of Patricia Owens stellar new book, Between War and Politics. Specifically, I engage with, although am skeptical of, her claim that that the current detention camps founded and governed by the United States in the global war on terror are dissimilar to those founded and governed by Germany in the Holocaust.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a general exposition of such corrosive strategies see the New York Times’ editorial of December 31, 2007, entitled ‘Looking at America.’ Not only does this list of strategies corroborate Hannah Arendt's discussion in Origins of Totalitarianism, but the Editorial hyperlinks to a letter discussing Nazi Germany and the role of the ‘Good Germans.'

  2. 2.

    See Kinsella, Helen ‘Discourses of Difference: Combatants, Civilians, and Compliance with the Laws of War’, in Review of International Studies, 31, 2006, 163–185.

  3. 3.

    Dossari is a 33-year-old citizen of Bahrain.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, 1050 Bascom Mall, 110 North Hall, Madison,, 53706, WI, USA

    Helen K Kinsella

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  1. Helen K Kinsella
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Kinsella, H. Arendt and Analogies. Int Polit 45, 497–505 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/ip.2008.15

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Keywords

  • Arendt
  • Owens
  • international law
  • human rights
  • totalitarianism
  • detention