ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an alternative conceptualisation of the state of exception. It focuses on the relationship between states and humanitarian International Non-Governmental Organisations, using the Ethiopia context as a case study. The law is a tool for states to control the external and can be thought of as discourse used in the securitisation process. The Charities and Societies Proclamation of 2009 is examined as a form of discourse and the theory of securitisation is situated in the Ethiopian environment. In the case of Ethiopia, the law was given a lot of weight and the background was less violent, so as an analytical starting point organisations were assumed to reside on the legal side of the spectrum and were thus less prone to violent retribution. The case of Ethiopia involves the process of securitisation in an authoritarian political environment and argues that the law itself can be considered a form of discourse.
