State of Emergency

Security has always been as much a problem for modern democracies as it has been a solution. The tension between security and democracy, safety and legitimate rule, has been at the center of modern politics going as far back as Hobbes’s leviathan state, where fear above all else “is the passion to be reckoned upon.” But since September 11, the pursuit of complete security has done considerable damage to our democratic process. We will never be able to truly escape the risks and uncertainty of modern life. Rousseau was right: complete security is impossible. But if fear is to continue to be a permanent condition in our lives, then let’s make sure democracy is as well.