Constraining Britain’s Legal Response to Terrorism: Norm Competition and the Prospects for Liberal Democracy

Since 2001, the vast majority of terrorist suspects in the UK have been dealt with through criminal prosecutions and trials in the ordinary English courts. However, the British government has also been determined to give itself extra powers to deal with a relatively small proportion of suspects that its feels cannot be prosecuted through the courts. This article focuses on the introduction of powers that allowed the government to detain foreign terrorist suspects indefinitely without trial and to restrict individuals’ movements through the imposition of control orders. These measures have been highly controversial and have been contested by important sections of British society. In this context, the powers have either been significantly constrained by the courts or dropped by the government. Analysing these developments, the article shows how norms of security, liberty and proportionality have helped to shape and constrain Britain’s legal response to terrorism over the last decade. Such constraints raise questions about the commonplace belief that liberal democracies in the post 9/11 world are moving towards the development of increasingly authoritarian responses to terrorism.