Conceptualising a protection of liberal constitutionalism post 9/11: an emphasis upon rights in the social contract philosophy of Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

John Locke believed individuals covenanted with the state, in return for security they had previously lacked in the state of nature. But in this bargain of protection, individuals still retained fundamental freedoms, such as life, liberty and estate. This reflected the fear that the newly created state, whilst also a guarantor of security, was also a threat to it. But since 9/11, and the continuation of Islamist terrorism, is the state still a significant threat to individual freedom, in the Lockeian sense? Another social contract theorist, Thomas Hobbes, vested more power in the state than Locke. With modern interpreters of security from the liberal tradition recognising significant curtailments of freedom for the very protection of the constitutional state from non-state actors, such as Islamists, can these interpretations be premised on the limited rights granted to citizens by the Hobbesian sovereign? These are the issues which this paper seeks to explore.