sawyl | Ratiocination meets political reality

I'm currently pondering the nature of the state and, in particular, the degree to which liberalism can be considered a form of communitarianism. Of the various political thinkers I've been studying, I've found Charles Taylor to be both persuasive and interesting.

One of the defining features of the liberal state is, according to Taylor¹, that it imposes burdens on its citizens in exchange for ensuring their freedom. This works by ensuring that the people who serve as the enforcement arm of the government, e.g. police and military, are drawn from the general citizenry and thus have a vested interest in ensuring that the law in keeping with the character of the state. Thus, I've found myself increasingly fascinated by the horrible political train wreck that is the current debate over detention without charge.

One the pro side, the executive is arguing that 42 days detention without charge may be required in extreme circumstances to prevent acts of terrorism. On the anti side are a group of politicians arguing that detention without charge is contrary to the character of the British state — something that is akin to Taylor's idea that we share a common conception of and connection to the state, thanks to our shared history.

So far, so routine. Until you consider the role of the police and the security forces in all this. A few former senior policemen, including Geoffrey Dear, have called the measures unnecessary and there has been a tacit admission from the security services that these measures are not urgently required. Until recently, very few serving police officers have spoken out against the legislation, but this appears to have changed. The Guardian, for example, quotes the deputy chief constable of Avon and Somerset as saying:

The issue now, unfortunately, has become very toxic and political, and we are moving away from a rational debate, because of the politics that now envelop this subject, not least of all, the role and position of the government and prime minister and all the other dimensions we read about in the press.

Which seems to be broadly in line with Taylor's idea: that opposition from within the enforcement agencies to the legislation flows from a realisation that anything that undermines the shared conception of society will probably make law enforcement more difficult.

References
Taylor, Charles "Cross-purposes: The Liberal-Communitarian Debate" in Liberalism and the Moral Life (ed. Nancy Rosenblum), Harvard University Press, 1989