Sovereign impunity in America’s war on terror: examining reconfigured power and the absence of accountability

Significant socio-legal transformations since September 11th have attracted scholarly investigations in pursuit of identifying the precise nature of a newly configured form of power. In the course of suspending law, the US government has instituted controversial tactics in the war on terror, many of which are deemed illegal under international law (i.e., the unlawful enemy combatant designation, torture, and the war in Iraq). This work attends to recent analyses on sovereignty, governmentality, counter-law, and states of exception in an effort to elaborate on state impunity since it is regarded as an important phenomenon warranting greater exploration. Due to an absence of accountability that would otherwise hold specific government actors responsible, key counter-terrorism strategies perpetuate serious state crimes. The article situates those transgressions within a conceptual context that deepens our understanding of power in a post-9/11 world while inviting further critique on the war on terror as it undermines the rule of law and established human rights protections.