"American science is struggling for its life. It's been under assault since January 2025, and nothing is getting better. We're soon to be on a death watch."
"In this universe, we live in a bifurcated world: the normative state, where the systems of daily life and civic governance hew to the usual, existing order, and the 'prerogative state,' which exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees."
"German academia turned with much zeal and enthusiasm to the project of justifying and legitimating the actions of the regime.... While legal scholars did not, by and large, participate directly in the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, they facilitated those by conferring a veneer of legality and legitimacy to the actions of the regime."
American science is in a critical state, facing unprecedented challenges since January 2025. The actions of the Trump administration threaten decades of innovation and preeminence. Scientific institutions appear to be aligning with those undermining them, raising questions about their complicity. The concept of a 'dual state' describes a bifurcated world where normal governance coexists with arbitrary power. This idea, rooted in Ernst Fraenkel's writings, highlights how academia can inadvertently support oppressive regimes by legitimizing their actions without direct involvement in crimes.
Read at The Nation
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