2
0
Thomas Hobbes’ seminal work, The Leviathan, is imagined as an all-encompassing entity, protruding irremovable into every aspect of life. Forged by their collective will, the people surrender their individual sovereignty in exchange for the protection of the Leviathan. While the Enlightenment largely removed this medieval concept, it has resurfaced in Britain and formed a crucial aspect of modern political thought in relation to national security. The modern British state has transformed into a Hobbesian hydra, intruding into every aspect of the lives of citizens, threatening the very foundations of democracy.
The origins of this change can be seen in the sense of paranoia that the British government and people felt after 9/11 and the subsequent response from Parliament in the form of legislation. Early enablers of the modern surveillance state can be seen through Acts such as the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 and the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act. Combined, these pieces of legislation codified mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale, allowing the government to scrape emails and texts and oversee every aspect of citizens’ lives. While these Acts were concerning, as they rubber-stamped government overreach, the promise that was delivered to individuals during this time was that they would only be used to track and combat terrorism within Britain. However, it is evident now that these tools, originally said to be only used in exceptional circumstances, are not being used in a careful and targeted way. Instead, they are used in a way that undermines the fundamental nature of the liberal democracy that Britain is.
The most remarkable instances of this can be seen through the way in which these powers have been misused to infiltrate broader policy matters, many of which aren’t related to national security at all. For example, the Online Safety Act compels tech platforms to scan for ‘harmful’ material and imagery, with this requirement leading to footage of protests being censored in the name of ‘safety’. Needless to say, this expands past the original justification of ‘national security threats from terrorism’ and instead dangerously infringes upon free speech. Similarly, the weaponisation of the original anti-terror legislation has led to individuals who obviously don’t pose a threat to the state, but are instead simply exercising their right to freedom of speech being arrested, including many elderly individuals who have declared support for Palestine Action. Lastly, and most concerningly, has been the flurry of anti-protest legislation that has been passed in recent years, restricting the ability of individuals to raise awareness on certain matters by curbing the amount of disruption they can cause, limiting the point of protest altogether. Worryingly, this legislation includes the power to restrict or impose bans upon marches, with the Home Secretary being given input into the decision.
In its current form, the British surveillance state and security system undermines democracy and sows’ distrust through these intrusions into everyday policy-making, leading to a more authoritarian government day by day. This is exacerbated by the fact that this Government has refused to acknowledge the near-bipartisan consensus that has formed over this weaponisation of national security, setting the stage for more populist exploitation of the matter. The British state must recalibrate and restrain the out-of-control government intrusion that has emerged in the modern day. This must be done through sunset clauses on surveillance powers and periodic assessments of key authoritarian measures within anti-terror legislation. There must be Parliamentary oversight over the classification of political organisations as ‘terrorist’ and a realignment with the human rights set out in the ECHR. If not pursued, the Leviathan will continue to demolish core freedoms at the centre of British life.
Edited by Phineas Horan
Image: Drawing of frontispiece of Leviathan by Abraham Bosse, 1651 // CC PDM 1.0
Average Rating