National Security, State Secrecy and Emergency Powers

Abstract

National security, government secrecy and emergency powers put traditional notions of constitutionalism to the test. They reflect the Hobbesian value that the safeguarding order and the state itself is the highest duty of the state to which other values including democracy and the rule of law must give way. According to Simon Brown LJ (1994), ‘the very words “national security” have acquired over the years an almost mystical significance. The mere incantation of the phrase of itself instantly discourages the court from satisfactorily fulfilling its normal role of deciding where the balance of public interest lies.’