Security, Surveillance and the State of Exception
Security has become one of the most powerful organizing principles of the modern state. In contemporary politics, states increasingly justify extraordinary powers in the name of protecting society from threats such as terrorism, crime, migration, and disorder. Critical political theory argues that security is not a neutral or purely defensive objective; rather, it is a mode of governing that reshapes law, citizenship, and everyday life. Surveillance and the normalization of the state of exception reveal how modern states expand power while claiming to preserve order and safety.
This unit examines the interrelationship between security, surveillance, and the state of exception, highlighting how emergency powers and monitoring practices transform democratic governance.
Security as a Mode of Governance
Traditional approaches to security focus on protecting the state from external threats. Critical perspectives challenge this narrow view by arguing that security operates as a technique of power that governs populations from within.
Security discourse defines what counts as a threat and who is perceived as dangerous. Once a threat is identified, extraordinary measures become acceptable. In this way, security does not merely respond to danger; it produces insecurity by categorizing populations, regulating movement, and legitimizing coercion.
Security governance thus shifts attention from rights and justice to risk management and prevention.
Surveillance and the Modern State
Surveillance is central to contemporary security practices. Modern states increasingly rely on data collection, monitoring, and information technologies to manage populations. Surveillance extends beyond policing and intelligence agencies into everyday domains such as welfare, migration control, public health, and digital communication.
Drawing on Foucauldian insights, surveillance can be understood as a form of disciplinary and biopolitical power. It works not only by observing individuals but by shaping behavior through the possibility of being watched. Citizens internalize norms of compliance, self-regulation, and transparency.
Surveillance thus transforms the relationship between the state and society, making governance continuous and pervasive.
From Discipline to Control
Critical theorists note a shift from traditional disciplinary institutions—such as prisons and schools—to more diffuse forms of control. Digital technologies allow for real-time monitoring, predictive policing, and algorithmic decision-making.
These practices blur the boundary between security and administration. Ordinary activities—travel, communication, consumption—become objects of security governance. Surveillance no longer targets only criminals; it treats entire populations as potential risks.
This expansion raises fundamental questions about privacy, freedom, and democratic accountability.
The State of Exception: Concept and Origins
The concept of the state of exception refers to situations in which normal legal order is suspended in the name of emergency. While emergency powers were traditionally seen as temporary responses to crisis, critical theorists argue that exceptions have become normalized in modern governance.
Giorgio Agamben famously argues that the state of exception has moved from the margins to the center of political life. In the name of security, states suspend rights, bypass due process, and expand executive authority—often without clear temporal limits.
The exception thus becomes a permanent technique of rule rather than a temporary response.
Law, Sovereignty, and Bare Life
Agamben’s analysis draws attention to the paradoxical relationship between law and sovereignty. The sovereign claims the authority to suspend the law in order to save it. In this process, certain individuals or groups are placed outside legal protection.
Agamben describes this condition as “bare life”—life that is biologically included within the state but politically excluded from rights. Detention camps, emergency laws, and counter-terror regimes exemplify spaces where individuals exist under state power without full legal protection.
The state of exception thus exposes the violent foundations of modern sovereignty.
Security, Exception, and Democracy
The expansion of security and emergency powers poses serious challenges to democratic governance. Surveillance and exceptional measures weaken civil liberties, normalize suspicion, and reduce public oversight.
Democratic institutions often continue to function formally, but their substance is hollowed out as executive power expands. Emergency laws passed in moments of crisis frequently remain in force long after the crisis has passed.
This raises the critical question of whether democracy can survive when exception becomes the rule.
Post-Colonial Dimensions of Security and Exception
In post-colonial contexts, the state of exception has a long history. Colonial rule was characterized by permanent emergency, legal dualism, and coercive governance. Many post-colonial states inherited these practices.
Security laws, preventive detention, and militarized policing are often disproportionately applied to marginalized communities. This reveals how security governance reproduces historical inequalities and differentiated citizenship.
Understanding security and exception therefore requires situating them within colonial legacies and global power relations.
Resistance and Contestation
Despite the expansion of surveillance and exceptional powers, security governance is not uncontested. Courts, civil society, media, and social movements challenge the normalization of emergency.
Everyday forms of resistance—legal challenges, data protection activism, and political protest—expose the fragility of security-based legitimacy. These struggles remind us that security is a political choice, not an inevitable necessity.
Conclusion: Security, Surveillance, and the Normalization of Exception
This unit shows that security, surveillance, and the state of exception are deeply interconnected features of the modern state. Security discourse legitimizes surveillance; surveillance enables preventive control; and the state of exception provides legal cover for extraordinary powers.
Critical political theory reveals that these practices do not simply protect society—they redefine citizenship, rights, and democracy. When exception becomes normal, the boundary between rule of law and arbitrary power erodes.
Understanding these dynamics is essential for analyzing contemporary states, especially in an era marked by permanent crisis, digital surveillance, and expanding executive authority.
References
- Agamben, Giorgio. State of Exception.
- Foucault, Michel. Society Must Be Defended.
- Foucault, Michel. Security, Territory, Population.
- Lyon, David. Surveillance Society.
- Bigo, Didier. “Security and Immigration.”
