Open AccessLiving in Surveillance Societies: The Normalisation of Surveillance in Europe and the Threat of Britain’s Bad Example
Author(s) -
David Murakami Wood,
C. William R. Webster
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of contemporary european research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.299
H-Index - 15
ISSN - 1815-347X
DOI - 10.30950/jcer.v5i2.159
Subject(s) - european union , resistance (ecology) , globalization , political science , electronic surveillance , human rights , product (mathematics) , political economy , business , international trade , law , sociology , ecology , biology , geometry , mathematics
This article argues that surveillance is becoming increasingly normalised across Europe and that this is altering the landscape of liberty and security. It identifies this normalisation as a product of the globalisation of surveillance, the domestication of security, the desire of the European Union (EU) to create a distinct leading role in security, and the influence of the 'bad example' of the United Kingdom (UK). The article uses the two very different examples of video-surveillance and electronic public services in the UK to make this case and to argue for both stronger resistance to calls to make human rights more flexible in a risk and security-driven age and more detailed research into the differences between emerging surveillance societies in Europe.