LightNews — News, ranked by scholars

Stephanie Vonarburg

@svonarburg.bsky.social

Lesenswert: @HeinrichWefing.bsky.social in der #ZEIT über den Juristen #ErnstFraenkel (+1975), der analysierte, wie ein Unrechtsregime neben der Rechtsordnung, die für die Mehrheit gilt (=Normenstaat), einen Bereich der Gesetzlosigkeit und Willkür für Minderheiten schafft (=Massnahmenstaat) (1)

November 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM

Harald Schmid

@haschmi.bsky.social

Alarmstufe Gelb - oder Rot? Mit #ErnstFraenkel ("Der Doppelstaat", 1940) lässt sich der autoritäre Trumpsche Staatsumbau als radikale Verschiebung zugunsten des "Maßnahmenstaats" und Schwächung des "Normenstaats" deuten. Alarmstufe Gelb wäre verharmlosend.
share.deutschlandradio.de/dlf-audiothe...

USA und Musk: Staatenumbau ohne Kontrolle

Elon Musk wütet ohne demokratische Kontrolle durch die US-Bundesbehörden, sagt Politologin Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook. Das wirke sich auf Senat und Kongress aus.

share.deutschlandradio.de

February 5, 2025 at 2:54 PM

Joanne Roulston, MSW, JD

@ottawakiwi.bsky.social

Rule of law has been badly undermined in the United States, though not gone. The USA long ago adopted the #dualState described by German Jewish lawyer, #ErnstFraenkel It is baked into its constitution.

#normativeState for white, cis, gendered landowning men. A #prerogativeState for everyone else.

January 12, 2026 at 2:33 PM

MonriaTitans

@monriatitans.bsky.social

@parkroseperma.bsky.social | Parkrose Permaculture: "I think I finally get why so many people in the US don't see how bad it is here." | #History #NaziGermany #ErnstFraenkel #DerDoppelstaat #TheDualState #ParallelLegalSystems #NormalState #PrerogativeState #SCOTUS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_sQ...

I think I finally get why so many people in the US don't see how bad it is here.

YouTube video by Parkrose Permaculture

www.youtube.com

March 26, 2026 at 4:44 PM

Robert C. Fried (Bob Fried)

@robertcfried.bsky.social

#DualState #NaziGermany #ErnstFraenkel #TrumpAdministration #PoliticalDissent #NormativeState #PrerogativeState #Lawlessness #StateViolence #PoliticalParallels #USPolitics #Authoritarianism #TargetedSuppression #PoliticalViolence #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegalSystem #PoliticalLoyalists #Insurrection

Is America Headed Towards a "Dual State" Like Nazi Germany?

The article "America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State" draws parallels between the current political situation in the United States and the rise of Nazi Germany, using Ernst Fraenkel's concept of the "dual state" as a framework[5].

Fraenkel, a Jewish labor lawyer who fled Nazi Germany in 1938, wrote "The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship," which explains how the Nazi regime maintained a capitalist economy with stable laws while simultaneously establishing a domain of lawlessness and state violence[5].

The dual state consists of two coexisting parts:

1. The "normative state": The regular legal system with rules, procedures, and precedents[5].

2. The "prerogative state": A parallel zone where "unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees" reign[5].

The article argues that the United States is witnessing the birth of a new dual state under the Trump administration. While the normative state continues to function for most citizens, a prerogative state is being constructed through various measures, including:

- Pardons that encourage insurrectionary violence
- Purges of career lawyers and officials
- Appointments of loyalists to key positions
- Attacks on judges enforcing the law
- Threats of criminal prosecutions for unfavorable speech[5]

The author warns that the danger of the dual state lies in its capacity for targeted suppression. Most people can ignore the prerogative state because it doesn't affect their daily lives, but once established, it can potentially engulf anyone[5].

The article concludes by noting that building a dual state doesn't necessarily lead to genocide, citing examples like Putin's Russia and Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. However, it emphasizes that the deepest similarity among these systems is their intolerance of political dissent while leaving the majority of citizens undisturbed[5].

Citations:
[1] https://www.europenowjournal.org/2022/03/23/legal-sabotage-ernst-fraenkel-in-hitlers-germany-by-douglas-g-morris/
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_state_(model)
[4] https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/09/05/polarization-democracy-and-political-violence-in-united-states-what-research-says-pub-90457
[5] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/trump-executive-order-lawlessness-constitutional-crisis/682112/
[6] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/reinventing-america/556856/
[7] https://www.lawbookexchange.com/pages/books/56961/ernst-fraenkel-e-a-shil/the-dual-state-a-contribution-to-the-theory-of-dictatorship
[8] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/the-autocrats-are-winning/620526/
[9] https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1906&context=uclrev

#DualState #NaziGermany #ErnstFraenkel #TrumpAdministration #PoliticalDissent #NormativeState #PrerogativeState #Lawlessness #StateViolence #PoliticalParallels #USPolitics #Authoritarianism #TargetedSuppression #PoliticalViolence #ConstitutionalCrisis #LegalSystem #PoliticalLoyalists #Insurrection #JudicialAttacks #PoliticalPurges #USGovernance #HistoricalParallels #PoliticalAnalysis #DemocracyThreats #PoliticalIntolerance

March 24, 2025 at 1:15 AM

excog

@excog.bsky.social

◻️

#ICE
#ErnstFraenkel
#DualState

The Nazi Political Theory That Explains ICE’s Impunity

Trump’s Immigration & Customs Enforcement has become the violent face of the country’s transformation into a new 21st c. dual state.

Bill Blum, Truthdig, 23 Jan, 2026

www.commondreams.org/opinion/ice-...

The Nazi Political Theory That Explains ICE's Impunity | Common Dreams

Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become the violent face of the country’s transformation into a new 21st-century dual state.

www.commondreams.org

January 28, 2026 at 11:19 PM

excog

@excog.bsky.social

◻️

#DualState
#ErnstFraenkel
#CarlSchmitt

ICE and the Dual-State Regime

-- The Nazi political theory behind ICE lawlessness.

Bill Blum, Truthdig, 19 Jan 2026

www.truthdig.com/articles/ice...