The Preventative State
The Challenge of Predicting and Preventing Cataclysmic Harms without Granting Too much Power to Government
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Encounter Books,USA
Publishing:3rd Jul '25
£21.99
This title is due to be published on 3rd July, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
You shall thank Alan Dershowitz for writing this [valuable] book.
—Stephen Breyer, Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
If reliable but uncertain intelligence predicted a mass casualty terrorist attack and indicated likely suspects,
what preventive actions would be constitutionally authorized? Detention? Interrogation? Torture? What if the attack involved a weaponized virus? Should the government compel widespread inoculation that might kill hundreds of people while saving millions? What if an article describing how to circumvent the inoculation mandate was about to be published? Should censorship of the article be authorized?
These are the sorts of questions Alan Dershowitz has been asking for more than 60 years, in his teaching, writing, and litigation. Now, at age 86, he has written his magnum opus. In it, he suggests an overarching jurisprudential framework that would set limits to the ballooning power of what he calls “the preventive state.”
This important book offers unprecedented insights into one of the most underexamined developments of our age: the growing magnitude and frequency of cataclysmic threats, coupled with the increasingly effective—but increasingly intrusive—tools intended to predict and prevent them.
Dershowitz responds to the urgent need for a jurisprudence that provides balance and accountability as both dangers and preventive capabilities increase, threatening our security and our liberties. This masterful analysis should be read by everyone who cares about security, liberty, and democracy.
No one but Alan would seek to bring a common mode of thought to issues as diverse as bail, climate change, and terrorism.
—Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University
An urgently important book about how to balance the desire to have governments prevent crises with the need to safeguard fundamental civil liberties.
—Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, University of California-Berkeley School of Law
A compelling capstone to Alan Dershowitz’s unparalleled analysis and experience throughout his distinguished career as a professor and litigator.
—Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School
He elucidates the intricate issue of preventive law, while updating it to the unforeseen challenges of the twenty-first century.
—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Dershowitz provides a brilliant roadmap for addressing the conundrum that maximizes both safety and liberty while recognizing that tradeoffs are inevitable.
—Jack L. Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
With clarity, wisdom, wit and breadth of understanding, Alan Dershowitz argues that the legal system should be revamped to prevent-not just punish-wrongdoing.
—Jesse Fried, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, Harvard University
ISBN: 9781641774406
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
120 pages