I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me: Understanding the Authoritarian Tendencies of the U.S. National Security State

Elizabeth Wright

doi:10.22151/politikon.36.1

Authors

Elizabeth Wright George Washington University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.36.1

Keywords:

authoritarianism, Banopticon, Barack Obama, George Bush, national security state, Orwell, surveillance

Abstract

George Orwell’s novel 1984 defined authoritarianism as a consequence of overarching surveillance in the modern state. Nearly 70 years later, the threat of tyranny reemerges in the present surveillance state—the U.S. Beyond the Orwellian concept of Big Brother to examine the U.S. national security state, this research examines the expansion of domestic surveillance in the post-9/11 age. Using a within-case comparative analysis of the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, it argues that institutional manipulation has forged the U.S. national security state into a surveillance heavy Banopticon (Bigo 2006). Though the latter operates to maintain state and citizen security, it undermines citizens’ freedoms through invasive surveillance policies which embolden state repression, despotism, and unconstitutional policy. Such authoritarian tendencies can be seen in the creation of surveillance under Bush and the expansive development of surveillant assemblages, surveillant culture, and surveillance capitalism (Zuboff 2015) during the Obama era.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Wright, George Washington University

Elizabeth Wright, 22, has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Southwestern University and is a Masters in Security Policy Studies Candidate at George Washington University. Her research centers on the intersection of Constitutional law and surveillance, specifically examining privacy and civil liberties in the public sphere. Outside of academics, she is part time contributor for the online initiative, Middle East Collective, providing monthly commentary on national security and foreign policy.