The state of freedom in Europe

Gearty, Conor ORCID: 0000-0002-3885-2650 (2015) The state of freedom in Europe. European Law Journal, 21 (6). 706 - 721. ISSN 1351-5993

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Abstract

The reaction to 11 September damaged the liberty of those living in Europe who found themselves targeted as suspect terrorists while seeming to do little to ensure the security of the wider community. More recently a second emergency, rooted this time in the financial and economic collapse of 2008 onwards, has caused a further unravelling of Europe's constitutional project, even threatening the gains of past generations of European idealists. In today's Europe universal liberty and security have no meaning for many even if their shape is retained in structures that in truth mock rather than deliver democracy and human rights. This article traces the origins of the crises that have afflicted so directly the breadth of liberty and human security in the Union, demonstrating their roots in ‘viruses’ that have been present from the start of the European movement but which have now spiralled out of control. The essay ends by asking what can be done to prevent the full decline of the region into a state of neo-democratic/post-democratic unfreedom, one in which capital unbound from democracy thrives at the expense of the people.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680386
Additional Information:	© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. An earlier draft was originally released as Working Paper 17/2015 as part of the LSE Law, Society and Economy series. It can be accessed through the related item link above.
Divisions:	Law
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
Date Deposited:	13 Jan 2016 12:05
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2024 08:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/64954

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