A legal and philosophical framework for understanding how the manipulation of personhood quietly erodes democracy, equality, and trust in institutions.
This 5-minute visual overview introduces the Execution Gap: the distance between rights guaranteed on paper and the rights that actually attach in real life. It walks through the Personhood Master Key (P = L × C), shows how the same mechanism appears in systems such as kafala, corporate personhood, and the gig economy, and presents the Execution Audit (EA-30/60/90) as a practical framework for enforcing the legal entitlements states already promise.
The Execution Gap is more than a book—it is a framework for understanding how the manipulation of legal personhood erodes democracy, equality, and trust in institutions. Through the lens of law, philosophy, and lived experience, Professor Thomas W. Hornig traces how personhood has been engineered to expand the rights of corporations while diminishing those of individuals. His work challenges us to recognize how the architecture of justice itself has been quietly rewritten through this imbalance.
To understand how personhood operates at the center of this project, see the detailed overview on our Personhood in Law page.
How The Execution Gap Redefines Justice and Personhood
Drawing from Roman law, modern jurisprudence, and real-world case studies, this project reveals how restoring authentic personhood is key to rebuilding legal integrity and social trust. It reframes global debates on identity, legitimacy, and justice—inviting readers, lawyers, and policymakers to rethink what it means for rights to truly attach to the human person. By aligning philosophy with law and practical reform, Hornig’s framework illuminates pathways toward restoring moral coherence in institutions that have lost their ethical center.
Recovering the Missing Vocabulary of Jurisprudence
At its core, this work is both diagnosis and prescription. It exposes how laws that once defined personhood as civic responsibility have been repurposed to serve markets and political power. By mapping how institutions selectively grant or deny recognition, Professor Hornig demonstrates how legitimacy erodes when profit replaces personhood as law’s measure of value. The Execution Gap offers not just critique but remedy—a roadmap toward a more just, transparent, and person-centered rule of law capable of rebuilding collective trust.
Why The Execution Gap Matters Today
In a time when laws often serve markets before people, The Execution Gap reclaims the moral dimension of justice. It reminds us that restoring personhood is not only a legal act but a cultural awakening—one that redefines legitimacy, accountability, and trust. By bridging theory and practice, the project shows how repairing the architecture of law begins with re-humanizing its foundation and returning dignity to the very concept of the person in law.
Discover The Execution Gap — A Vision for Restoring Personhood and Justice
Buy the Digital Edition — $19.95
📜 Origins of The Execution Gap
Originally published in Al-Raida Journal (Lebanese American University, 2010)
This essay by Thomas W. Hornig marked the beginning of what would become The Execution Gap Project. It chronicles his early years in Lebanon and the contradictions between law, identity, and personhood that shaped his later research.
“The eyes see what the mind is ready to comprehend.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
For inquiries, contact info@executiongap.org
