Police state

A police state is an autocratic state which uses the police, especially secret police, to maintain and enforce political power, often through violent or arbitrary means. A police state typically exhibits elements of authoritarianism, totalitarianism or other harsh means of social control. In a police state the police are not subject to the rule of law and there is no meaningful distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.

A government does not describe itself as a "police state". Instead, it is a description assigned to a regime by internal or external critics in response to the law, policies and actions of that regime, and is often used pejoratively to describe the regime's stance on human rights, the social contract and similar matters.

Restrictions upon rights and freedoms

In times of war, the balance which may usually exist between the freedom of individuals and national security often tips in favour of the state (see also National security and rights & freedoms).

For example in the United States, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the American Civil War, Woodrow Wilson allowed many citizens to be imprisoned for sedition during World War I, and Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed many Japanese-Americans to be placed in internment camps during World War II (see Japanese American internment).

For many, the conduct of the current War on Terrorism is the latest example, with various countries including Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States responding with legislation designed to hamper the activities of potential terrorists. However, critics also point out that such legislation has the effect of hampering the legitimate actitivies of citizens, and restricting various rights and freedoms.

In Australia, the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 permits arbitrary constraints on individuals and greatly increases the information gathering ability of the police. Proponents of the legislation argue that it decreases the likelihood of terrorist attacks on Australian targets. [1] Opponents have viewed the legislation as facilitating the creation of a police state. [2] [3]

In the United States, the U.S. Congress, with the support of the Bush administration, has passed a number of laws, including the USA Patriot Act, which have expanded the power of the executive to monitor and control those within the U.S. The executive has also wiretapped suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens.

Some in the U.S. argue pursuant to the Unitary Executive theory that the U.S. President as Commander-in-Chief and as a "war president", may temporarily set aside some freedoms and rights in order to maintain and protect national security. However, opponents are concerned with the extent to which "national security" may serve as an arbitrary pretext for restricting social and political opposition to government policies, and that without strong and appropriate regulation and a system of checks and balances, there may be little to distinguish a free and just society from a police state. [4] [5] In this regard, the famous phrase attributed to Benjamin Franklin is seen as particularly relevant, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety".

Enlightened absolutism

Under the political model of enlightened despotism, the ruler is the "highest servant of the state" and exercises absolute power so as to provide for the general welfare of the population. This model proposes that all of the powers of the state must be directed toward this end, and does not accept any codified or statutory constraints upon the ruler’s absolute power. This view was supported by such thinkers as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

As the enlightened despot is said to be charged with the public good, opposition to government policy is deemed to be an offense against the authority of the state and all it represents. The concept of loyal opposition is incompatible within this political framework. As public dissent is forbidden, it inevitably becomes secret, which is met in turn forms of political repression such as the use of secret police.

Liberal democracy, with its emphasis on the rule of law, focused on the fact that the police state was unrestrained by law. Robert von Mohl, who first introduced the rule of law into German jurisprudence, for example, contrasted the Rechtsstaat ("legal" or "constitutional" state) with the aristocratic Polizeistaat ("police state").

Examples of "police states" in literature

• The best-known literary treatment of the police state is George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which describes life under a totalitarian régime that uses the constant presence of eternal war as a pretext for subjecting the people to mass surveillance, constraining both freedom of action and of thought.
• In We, Yevgeny Zamyatin depicts a dystopia in which the walls are made out of glass, the only means of getting information is the state newspaper, and imaginations are forcibly removed from people.
• Another example is the fictional City 17 under The Combine, also known as the Universal Union, in the computer game Half-Life 2.