This seminar is concerned with theoretical concepts related to law and security, and how those concepts manifest in selected post-9/11 security measures and debates about those security measures. The focus is on security measures that are directed towards countering terrorism.
Although terrorism and laws related to terrorism have existed for considerably longer, this area became especially topical after September 11, 2001. Rightly or wrongly, in the post-9/11 era, most people are now accustomed to the idea that we live in a dangerous world, which necessitates the existence of special counter-terrorism laws to protect us. Such laws frequently grant discretion to executive actors to intervene preventively, and to intervene in ways that may compromise other values, such as liberty and due process. The issue is figuring out when, if ever, and if so, under what circumstances and conditions, these values should give way to the need for security. By the end of the year, you should be in a better position to consider these kinds of questions, and to critically evaluate various counterterrorism legislation and security measures.
The first semester will consist of seminars led by the lecturer, which will involve discussion of readings that address various topics such as the liberty/security trade-off, the normality/emergency dichotomy, deference, due process and constitutionalism. The second semester will consist of seminar presentations by students on their chosen topics of research.