Anderson, Paul (2016) Fighting 'terrorism', repressing democracy : surveillance and resistance in the UK. Working Paper. Coventry: School of Law, University of Warwick. Legal Studies Research Paper, 2016 . (Unpublished)

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Abstract

‘Terrorism’ offers salient means to justify a level of social repression that would be intolerable in normal
times. A criticism is that repression has gone too far. Although pertinent, focus on the proper extent of
repression tends to overlook a less noticed yet critical feature of governments’ use of anti-terror power: the
prior erosion of democratic oversight and control which enables repression to appear a plausible response to
a largely unspecified threat. A case in point is the British government’s programme to progressively monitor
the entire population’s online activity and paper, electronic and telephonic communication on grounds that
this is ‘necessary to fight serious crime and terrorism’. This paper lays bare certain problems with that
programme in two ways. Theoretically, it infuses some legal criticism of mass surveillance with relevant
theoretical input, particularly from perspectives of critical political economy and democratic theory. This
facilitates a more precise characterisation of the erosion of democratic oversight and control.
Methodologically, it frames the more theoretical input in terms relevant to legal mobilisation and which
permit greater scope for practical effect, namely, terms of judicial review. Such framing offers one avenue by
which the effectiveness of resistance to mass surveillance may increase.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
Series Name:	Legal Studies Research Paper
Publisher:	School of Law, University of Warwick
Place of Publication:	Coventry
Official Date:	May 2016
Dates:	Date Event May 2016 Created
Volume:	2016
Number of Pages:	29
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Date of first compliant deposit:	29 April 2016

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