At Odds with One Another: The Tension between Civil Liberties and National Security in Twentieth-Century America

Abstract

The September 11 tragedy and the War on Terror have clearly demonstrated the tension between the demands of national security and the demands of democracy in the making of U.S. foreign policy. Democracy requires an open political process and high levels of civil rights and liberties in order for its citizens to politically participate. The demands of national security usually require a much less open political process with limitations on civil rights and liberties. The demands of democracy and the demands of national security inherently have contradictory implications for political participation within a democratic society.KeywordsForeign PolicyNational SecurityCivil LibertyPolitical RepressionAmerican NationalismThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.