Democratic heroism - Directive 2006/24/EC and the struggle for the soul of democracy
(2008) 2nd ECPR Graduate Conference, 2008- Abstract
- In the debate on how to make democracy strong against terrorism, it has been suggested that the Western democracies need new protective measures. This paper argues that, far from protecting democracy, such measures may in fact undermine the very values and virtues that make democracy possible.
Information freedom, the right to due process and the protection of privacy are all fundamental for the functioning of a democratic society. Despite this, recent years have seen a string of new laws, both in the US and in Europe, that in different ways curtail key civil liberties. Even countries entirely unaffected by international terrorism, such as Sweden, have passed new legislation allowing electronic surveillance and covert... (More) - In the debate on how to make democracy strong against terrorism, it has been suggested that the Western democracies need new protective measures. This paper argues that, far from protecting democracy, such measures may in fact undermine the very values and virtues that make democracy possible.
Information freedom, the right to due process and the protection of privacy are all fundamental for the functioning of a democratic society. Despite this, recent years have seen a string of new laws, both in the US and in Europe, that in different ways curtail key civil liberties. Even countries entirely unaffected by international terrorism, such as Sweden, have passed new legislation allowing electronic surveillance and covert listening devices. Taking the recent Swedish legislation as its starting point, the paper will also address the related EC directive on data retention (2006/24/EC). A key question posed is to what extent democracy has to be based on courage or even “heroism” if it is to remain true to itself when confronted by terrorism or other existential threats. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1277716
- author
- Karlsson, Rasmus LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2008
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- unpublished
- subject
- keywords
- Electronic Surveillance, Terrorism, Democracy, Political theory
- pages
- 11 pages
- conference name
- 2nd ECPR Graduate Conference, 2008
- conference location
- Barcelona, Spain
- conference dates
- 2008-08-25 - 2008-08-27
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 631639a2-8bec-4dbf-8a01-deddb1ec3330 (old id 1277716)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 13:20:36
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:13:21
@misc{631639a2-8bec-4dbf-8a01-deddb1ec3330, abstract = {{In the debate on how to make democracy strong against terrorism, it has been suggested that the Western democracies need new protective measures. This paper argues that, far from protecting democracy, such measures may in fact undermine the very values and virtues that make democracy possible.<br/><br> <br/><br> Information freedom, the right to due process and the protection of privacy are all fundamental for the functioning of a democratic society. Despite this, recent years have seen a string of new laws, both in the US and in Europe, that in different ways curtail key civil liberties. Even countries entirely unaffected by international terrorism, such as Sweden, have passed new legislation allowing electronic surveillance and covert listening devices. Taking the recent Swedish legislation as its starting point, the paper will also address the related EC directive on data retention (2006/24/EC). A key question posed is to what extent democracy has to be based on courage or even “heroism” if it is to remain true to itself when confronted by terrorism or other existential threats.}}, author = {{Karlsson, Rasmus}}, keywords = {{Electronic Surveillance; Terrorism; Democracy; Political theory}}, language = {{eng}}, title = {{Democratic heroism - Directive 2006/24/EC and the struggle for the soul of democracy}}, url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6096556/1277718.pdf}}, year = {{2008}}, }