Security as a Basic Right (After 9/11)
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Description
Should we give up any of our rights for the sake of security? The world is a dangerous place, more dangerous perhaps than it was when our human or constitutional rights were first defined. Many people think we would be safer if we were to abandon some of our rights or at least cut back on some of our more aggressive claims about the extent and importance of our civil liberties. Or maybe the trade-off should go in the other direction. Maybe we should be a little braver and risk a bit more in the way of security to uphold our precious rights. After all, security is not the be-all and end-all; our rights are what really matter. But this alternative line will not work if it turns out that security is valuable, not just for its own sake, but for the sake of our rights. What if the enjoyment of our rights is possible only when we are already secure against various forms of violent attack? If rights are worth nothing without security, then the brave alternative that I alluded to is misconceived. I considered some of these issues in an earlier article entitled “Security and Liberty: The Image of Balance.” But I did not explicitly address the point that security might be a precondition for enjoying any rights at all. In this chapter, I want to consider that possibility. In doing so, I shall make use of an earlier analysis of the relation between security and rights, set out in Henry Shue’s book, Basic Rights.
Source Publication
Global Basic Rights
Source Editors/Authors
Charles R. Beitz, Robert E. Goodin
Publication Date
2009
Recommended Citation
Waldron, Jeremy, "Security as a Basic Right (After 9/11)" (2009). Faculty Chapters. 1589.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1589
