The second thesis concerns the tendency in contemporary political life for the ‘exceptional’ to be increasingly incorporated into what is considered normal or acceptable, the standard examples in the current literature being institutions such as Guant´anamo Bay, or the practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’ of terrorist suspects for interro- gation. These are the most extreme instances of the many extra-legal curtailments of freedom that have been implemented and tolerated as part of the ‘War on Terror’. Since this war cannot ever be satis- factorily concluded, these ‘exceptional’ states of affairs become and remain normative.