Rethinking civil liberties in a counter-terrorism world

This opinion piece argues that the subject of civil liberties has got where it is today by creative exploitation of the pressures that result from three paradoxes that lie at its heart, relating to: national security, democracy, and political violence. The author proposes ways in which progressive vigour can be restored to civil liberties to sustain its radical dimensions, even in the face of an antagonistic anti-terrorism narrative. The author considers these ideas further in his forthcoming book Civil Liberties (Clarendon Press, Oxford, to be published September 2007).