Dual state (model)

For other uses, see Dual state (disambiguation) and Dual state.

The dual state is a model in which the functioning of a state is divided into a normative state, which operates according to set rules and regulations, and a prerogative state, "which exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees". It was invented by Ernst Fraenkel to describe the functioning of the Nazi state especially law in Nazi Germany, and described in his book The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship.

Although it was originally intended as an analysis of authoritarian states, some elements of the prerogative state are present in democracies. The model has also been applied to other states such as Israel, the United States, South Africa, Fascist Italy, twenty-first century China and Russia as well as Lebanon.

See also

• Deep state
• Dual federalism
• Dual power
• Dualism (politics)
• Fascism
• Political violence
• State of exception
• State violence