The War on Terror or the War on Civil Liberties: The State, Society and the Civil Liberties Since 2001
The War on Terror or the War on Civil Liberties: The State, Society and the Civil Liberties Since 2001

Summary/Abstract: Democracies and civil liberties can only prosper within peaceful and nonviolent societies, and violent conflict and terror often harm the political and social atmosphere that they need to exist. Since the terror attacks on American soil in 2001 shocked the world, many states, especially Western democracies have started and fought an internal and external war on terror. It is unclear whether a definitive success against terrorism could have been achieved in the past, as much as it is the case for the future. On the other hand, the events including terrorism and counterterrorism measures have had tremendous setbacks on civil liberties worldwide. These setbacks can largely be explained within, and as the result of, three correlated phenomena; rising statist tendencies in domestic and international politics, antiterror legislation that has been made to endorse the former and manipulated society or supportive groups. Based on selected cases of academia and the press, this paper, therefore, concludes that the threats and setbacks to civil liberties come not only from terrorist networks, but also from the state and society.

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