This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in West European Politics on 15 January 2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2017.1415780

Aldrich, RJ

Richterova, D

West European Politics

Richard J. Aldrich

Daniela Richterova

Crossref

Ambient accountability: intelligence services in Europe and the decline of state secrecy

In the 1990s, judgments in the European Court of Human Rights concerning state surveillance forced many West European countries to introduce new parliamentary bodies and formal systems for accountability. Promising both greater transparency and lawful intelligence, these frameworks were then energetically rolled out to Central and Eastern Europe. Although officials boasted about their effectiveness, these formal accountability mechanisms have failed to identify serious abuses over the last decade. Moreover, the security regime in much of Central Europe still remains largely unreconstructed. The article argues that a robust culture of accountability cannot be conjured into existence merely by introducing new laws and regulations, or indeed by the increasing tide of media revelations about intelligence. However, it suggests that we are now seeing the rise of a more complex pattern of ‘ambient accountability’ which is at last challenging the secret state across Europe.</p

Aldrich, Richard J.

Richterova, Daniela

King's Research Portal

Ambient accountability:intelligence services in Europe and the decline of state secrecy

In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked remarkable details of numerous highly-classified surveillance programmes to the Washington Post and the Guardian, sparking an international furore. They revealed widespread collection against European citizens and monitoring of European premiers, notably Angela Merkel. The European media framed this episode around civil liberties, focusing upon ‘the end of privacy’ for the citizen. However, it is the contention of this article that the importance of Snowden era has been misunderstood. We argue that nature of privacy has, in fact, changed relatively slowly over the last decade and instead that these developments denote a ‘crisis of secrecy’. The key issue is not government looking at us - but our increasing ability to look at government, and especially new ways of calling the secret state to account

Warwick Research Archives Portal Repository

Ambient accountability : intelligence services in Europe and the decline of secrecy

Brunel University Research Archive

http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/97139/1/WRAP-ambient-accountability-intelligent-services-decline-secrecy-Aldrich-2017.pdf

Ambient accountability: intelligence services in Europe and the decline of state secrecy

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

King's Research Portal

Warwick Research Archives Portal Repository

Brunel University Research Archive