ABSTRACT
The state is not only protector but also prison warden to its citizens. Arguably, state institutions are the most egregious perpetrators of human rights abuses. Political scientist R. J. Rummel estimates that governments have intentionally killed one hundred sixty nine million people in the twentieth century alone. 1 Much of this mass killing was done by authoritarian regimes against their own citizens. 2 This reality, the fundamental recognition that the state is not always a benign presence acting in the best interests of its citizens, has led to a re-imagining of state sovereignty.
