Reflections on Authority, Suspicion and Secrecy in the Liberal Democratic State

Abstract

This essay attempts an initial, partial, and inevitably cursory exploration into some of the modern historical relations between suspicion and authority. Why explore these relations? One reason is that they are a more important feature of modern politics – and especially modern democratic politics – than we have perhaps realized. Second, these relations have also profoundly shaped modern liberal social imaginaries. Finally, such an exploration may help us understand how, in a wide variety of states all around the world, Islam has come to be seen as posing some kind of existential threat, and is thus made subject to intensi fi ed state surveillance. This happens with Islam today more commonly than with any other religion, and whether Muslims are a majority or minority in those states. This curious situation has sometimes been referred to as the Muslim question. 1 – fl Islam and us about modern state itself, and more speci fi cally, the liberal social imaginary that historically emerged part 2 I structural imaginary. better understand that feature I the modern historical relations between and