The Constant state of emergency?: surveillance after 9/11

Abstract

In the climate of the US government’s ‘Terrorism Information Awareness’ (TIA) campaign,1 as pundits look forward to the increased reach of surveillance, this book has highlighted four important trends. First, an intensification of local and everyday surveillance, but with an emphasis on the problematic nature of grand-scale developments. Second, the tendency of surveillance not only to ‘creep’ (Marx, 1995) forward but also to ‘surge’ at opportune moments, and new possibilities for the hindrance of its spread. Third, an interesting twist in the linkage between military and managerial surveillance activities, and fourth, a need for theory to take account of its practical complexities. This chapter examines each of these issues in turn.