What are contemporary security concerns and what effects do they have on liberties? After 9/11 a number of security measures have been introduced in the name of protection. The search for security has led many governments to restrict liberties for selective populations (i.e. suspected of terrorism and unauthorized migration), but also to increase surveillance measures and curtail liberties as part of everyday rule applicable to the general population. This module seeks to tackle contemporary questions of security and liberties and highlights specifically terrorism and liberties, migration and security, and general surveillance. Topics range from indefinite detention, policing, airport security, biometrics to video-surveillance. Discussions of contemporary issues are employed to understand some of the inherent problems of liberal democracies in the search for a balance of security and liberties.

Part I will provide an introduction into theorizing security and the relation of security and liberties. How can the liberal state deal with its enemies? Do exceptional times require exceptional measures? Should governments suspend rights and liberties of individuals to preserve the constitution and protect the liberal order? Can and how can the liberal paradox be resolved? Is there a right balance between security and liberties? Under which circumstances should fundamental rights be restricted? Part I will discuss the relation of security and liberties from political, legal and sociological perspectives and highlight debates on exceptionalism and the rule.

Part II will analyze specific contemporary issues, seeking to combine problematics of security and liberties for selective populations and general populations. Topics include terrorism and liberties, policing and criminalization, borders and biometrics, and surveillance technologies. The contemporary issues were chosen with the intent to provide students to the breadth of contemporary issues that can be analyzed through the lens of security and liberties. Part II includes policy documents, court cases, film/arts, and current newspaper articles and journals.

Students will be assessed based on a research essay, chosen by the student in coordination with the lecturer, consisting of 5,000 words, worth 100% of the mark.

• Q. Skinner, States and the Freedom of Citizens. In: Bo Strath and Quentin Skinner, ed., States and Citizens, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 11-27.
• C. Norris, M. McCahill and D, Wood (eds.) The Politics of CCTV. Surveillance and Society, vol. 2, (2/3) 2004.
• W. Walters, Deportation, Expulsion, and the International Police of Aliens. Citizenship Studies, 6 (3) 2002: 265-292.
• V. Ramraj, M. Hor and K. Roach, ed., Global Anti-Terrorism Law and Policy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• R. Hülsse and A. Spencer, The Metaphor of Terror: Terrorism Studies and the Constructivist Turn. Security Dialogue, vol. 39 (6) 2008: pp. 571-592.
• D. Bigo, L. Bonelli, E.P. Guittet, C. Olsson and A. Tsoukala Illiberal Practices of Liberal Regimes: The (In)security Games. Paris: l’Harmattan, 2006.
• D. Lyon, Surveillance After September 11. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003: pp. 1-12 (Introduction) and pp. 13-39 (Understanding Surveillance).
• M. Foucault, The Eye of Power. In: C. Gordon (ed.) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York, Pantheon Books, 1980: pp. 146-165.
• G. Agamben, Means Without End: Notes on Politics, trans. V. Binetti and C. Casarino. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000: 37-48 (What is a Camp?) and pp. 103- 108 (Sovereign Police).
• J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chapter 14.

See the library reading list for this module

• The learning outcomes of this module are:
• Knowledge and understanding of security practices and their impact on liberties in liberal democracies, conflicts and post-conflict situations, i.e. questions of camps, refugees, borders, rights
• Knowledge and understanding of theoretical frameworks to analyze past and contemporary security and liberty challenges
• Knowledge and understanding of issues of security and liberties, and related problems of political and international order, and power
• Capacity to conduct independent research in the field of security, liberties and conflict, integrating conceptual and empirical issues

No pre-requisites