As indicated in the article by Clément Schouler and Laurent Mucchielli on public freedoms in the context of a recurrent state of emergency in France since 2015, published in this issue, Futuribles is launching a series around the question of freedom versus the demand for the protection and surveillance of the population. In this ‘Forum’, Yoann Nabat notes the increased intensification of security arrangements in France in recent years and asks what dynamic is at play: are these arrangements a response to a demand on the part of citizens or, conversely, is the French population’s hankering after increased security the product of a political discourse that puts greater emphasis on that element?
With the extension of the powers accorded to the forces of law and order and the collection of copious data of all kinds, are we running the risk of drifting towards a generalized surveillance society? As Yoann Nabat sees it, this question lies ‘at the point of convergence of three political influences,’ which he strives to decipher: ‘security imperatives, the neo-liberal environment and a current of technophilia.’ He alerts us to the potential consequences for individual and collective liberties of a generalized roll-out of data-based surveillance, particularly with regard to the penal model (a re-casting of the principles of the penal law), the control of individuals (the boundary between knowledge and control, the invisibility of digital surveillance etc.) and democracy (a gradual deterioration of respect for private life, a ‘vigilant society’ etc.). Might the demand for security eventually overwhelm the liberal principles (in the political sense of the term) that have formed the basis of the social contract since the Enlightenment?
