Ian McEwan, one of our greatest modern writers, gives food for thought in the concluding words of his article
And we will face again that deal we must constantly make and remake with the state -
how much power must we grant Leviathan,
how much freedom will we be asked to trade for our security?
In his novel, Atonement, McEwan demonstrates how one small decision, one tiny event can reach down through the years with effects one could never imagine until we wish we could wind back the clock, revisit that crucial moment.
The War on Terror must be such a moment for humanity - so that we consider the crucial moments in our present time and our past history which have brought us to the now of events that impact our lives. The War on Terror has not decreased terrorist incidents but has increased them. In Australia, questions are raised about the security powers that the Australian Government has taken to itself.
McEwan's reference to Leviathan is a reference to the book of that name by Thomas Hobbes. Though Hobbes wrote in the 17th century his ideas are still relevant to political life to-day. Hobbes is perhaps most famous for his political philosophy which says that humanity in a state of nature, that is a state without civil government, is in a war of all against all in which life is hardly worth living. The way out of this desperate state is to make a social contract and establish the state to keep peace and order. Because of the Hobbesian view of how nasty life is without the state, the law of the jungle, Hobbes subscribes to a very authoritarian version of the social contract.
McEwan reminds us of the question for ourselves in all of this - what is at stake in the trade off between power and security, our civil rights and freedom and our insecurities.
See more about Ian McEwan at http://www.ianmcewan.com/
