Beyond the vigilant state: globalisation and intelligence

The world of intelligence has grown exponentially over the last decade. This articlesuggests that prevailing explanation of this expansion – the spectre of ‘new terrorism’ –reflects serious misunderstandings. Much of the emergency legislation which has extendedthe power of the state so remarkably was already sitting in the pending trays of officials inthe late 1990s. Instead, the rise of both the ‘new terrorism’ and its supposed nemesis – thesecret state – both owe more to long-term structural factors. Globalisation has accelerateda wide range of sub-military transnational threats, of which the ‘new terrorism’ is but oneexample. Meanwhile the long-promised engines of global governance are nowhere in sight.In their absence, the underside of a globalising world is increasingly policed by ‘vigilantstates’ that resort to a mixture of military power and intelligence power in an attempt toaddress these problems. Yet the intelligence services cannot meet the improbable demandsfor omniscience made by governments, nor can they square their new enforcer role withvocal demands by global civil society for improved ethical practice