the state structure is already entrenched? His freedom of choice and determination is hindered by the state structure into which he has been born. Thus, the stateÊs moral authority to act based on the peopleÊs ÂconsentÊ is dubious. I now turn to the issue of how state directives can potentially encroach on freedom. WeberÊs definition asserts merely that the state must constitute an agency that monopolizes legitimate violence. But, who is to decide what is legitimate? Repressive regimes in Middle Eastern societies have been known to use violence to silence revolts in the name of a greater good 2 . Western regimes are more subject to checks and balances, and must appear to respond to public will or else be voted out. But states may employ more subtle methods in order to control peopleÊs behaviour. In the USA the agricultural adjustment act allowed the secretary of agriculture to give benefits to those farmers who agreed to produce less in the 1930s. It would be morally wrong for the state to use violent measures to get them to produce less; a breach in the social contract and a denial of the freedom supposedly guaranteed. Freedom is only ÂfreedomÊ when it is subject to consent. Thus the legal route was deemed more acceptable. Yet, closer analysis shows how the consequences produced from either situation are more similar than may first appear. When someone is forced by violence to act, and where they have no real choice, they are not in control. Consent is absent, and the social contract is broken. When citizens are incentivized economically or otherwise to act in a certain way and have been made an Âoffer they cannot refuseÊ, they too are not entirely in control. The state has an unfair amount of power in the relationship. Yet, as Rousseau 3 put it: Âthere is no subjugation so perfect as that which keeps the appearance of freedom, for in that way one captures volition itselfÊ. Hence, we see how the 2 For example most recently in Syria when the Assad regime attempted to silence the 2011 Arab Spring Revolution using force. 3 Quoted from RousseauÊs ÂEmileÊ (1762)
stateÊs power to control citizensÊ behaviour through the use of incentive can be of potential danger to the principle of freedom, precisely because for the most part it goes unnoticed and thus remains insidious; almost as if a broken contract is deemed not to be broken because one party to the contract is oblivious. Similarly, the growth of state bureaucracy forms a daunting prospect for freedom. There is an omnipotent system of government in which officials as opposed to elected representatives take numerous important decisions. Consent is absent and transparency doubtful. Weber pointed to the presence of the state into all spheres of life. He saw the speed, precision and impersonal nature of the bureaucracy as an efficient way for the state to achieve its goals. Yet a problem arises when these goals lead to extensive control. New rules can be set concerning virtually anything. The UK Terrorism Act passed in 2000 authorized police to stop and search any person without the need to demonstrate just cause. Furthermore, terrorist suspects could be detained for up to seven days. Civil liberties appeared seriously jeopardized in the face of state power, when in August 2013 Mr Miranda, a man associated with a Guardian newspaper journalist, was detained for 9 hours at Heathrow airport under schedule 7 of the Terrorist Detention Act (2000). The act is supposed to be used by the police to determine if an individual is a terrorist, but in the case of David Miranda it appeared as though they were using it without any grounds for suspicion at all, and using it to obtain what they deemed to be Âsensitive materialÊ. Surely such laws breach basic civil liberties such as the freedom of the press, because under schedule 7 the state could theoretically confiscate any material they saw fit under any circumstances. When state powers become too far-reaching there is a danger for security measures to be miss- used. This example forms part of what Liberal Democrats describe in their 2009
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