Working Paper 76

Title
The Politics of Security

Author
Julia Eckert

Department
Project Group Legal Pluralism

Year of publication
2005

Number of pages
25

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Working Paper 76

Abstract
The paper examines the effects that the ‘global war on terror’ has had on notions of security and citizenship. Comparing legislation across various countries, it advances the thesis that there is a) a decisive shift in the division of powers, which also entails an abandonment of the principle of equality before the law; and that b) security measures introduced further the culturalisation of membership in a polity as well as the re-moralisation of access to rights. It calls for anthropological research into the effects of the social dichotomisation engendered by the politics of security.