Legislating anti-terrorism: observations on form and process

Terrorism Legislation Security

The likely conduct of the three arms of government in responding to threats to national security – and the strengths and weaknesses possessed by each in doing so – has been the subject of a considerable amount of academic debate in the years since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. Although the question of how democracies can defeat an enemy while still maintaining essential checks and balances on government is far from a new one, it has certainly received sustained attention, frequently enriched through use of comparative perspectives and experiences, in the first decade of this century.