Security, Citizenship and Human Rights

Security, Citizenship and Human Rights

Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series Series Editors: Varun Uberoi, University of Oxford; Nasar Meer, University of Southampton and Tariq Modood, University of Bristol The politics of identity and citizenship has assumed increasing importance as our polities have become significantly more culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse. Different types of scholars, including philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and historians make contributions to this field and this series showcases a variety of innovative contributions to it. Focusing on a range of different countries, and utilizing the insights of different disciplines, the series helps to illuminate an increasingly controversial area of research and titles in it will be of interest to a number of audiences including scholars, students and other interested individuals. Titles include: Derek McGhee SECURITY, CITIZENSHIP AND HUMAN RIGHTS Shared Values in Uncertain Times Nasar Meer CITIZENSHIP, IDENTITY AND THE POLITICS OF MULTICULTURALISM The Rise of Muslim Consciousness Michel Seymour (editor) THE PLURAL STATES OF RECOGNITION Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-230-24901-1 (hardback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

Security, Citizenship and Human Rights Shared Values in Uncertain Times Derek McGhee Professor of Sociology, University of Southampton, UK

Derek McGhee 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-24153-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-31725-7 DOI 10.1057/9780230283183 ISBN 978-0-230-28318-3 (ebook) This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10

In memory of Hector

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Contents Acknowledgements Preface viii x Introduction: Value Trouble 1 1 Pre-Emptive Securities Border Controls and Preventative Counter-Terrorism 12 2 Building a Consensus on National Security : Terrorism, Human Rights and Core Values 38 3 Restoring Public Confidence Managed Migration, Racialization and Earned Citizenship 66 4 Security, Citizenship and Responsibilities Debates on a Bill of Rights in the UK 92 5 Belonging Together or Belonging to the Polity? Shared Values, Britishness and Patriotism 118 6 Patriots of the Present and the Future Ethical Solidarity and Equalities in Uncertain Times 142 Afterword 175 Notes 180 Bibliography 196 Index 214 vii

Acknowledgements There are numerous people I would like to thank with regard to their support in the writing of this book. I would like to thank my fellow presenters and the members of the audience for their insightful comments on the papers (parts of which have been included in the chapters of this book) I presented at a number of international conferences between 2007 and 2009 (for example, the European Association conferences in 2007 and 2009, The American Sociological Conference in 2008 and the International Sociological Association Congress in 2008). Furthermore the comments I received from other participants and the members of the audiences on the occasions when I have been asked to present papers at seminars, symposia and small conferences have also been very helpful in developing the ideas included in this book. For example, parts of a paper I presented on the Bill of Rights at the Runnymede Trust in 2009 are included in Chapter 5 of this book; I also presented aspects of Chapters 3 and 5 at The Politics of Social Cohesion Conference, hosted by the Centre for the Study of Equality and Multiculturalism at the University of Copenhagen in 2009. I was also invited by Prof. Tariq Modood, director of the Centre for the Study Ethnicity and Citizenship at Bristol University to present a paper (parts of which is included in Chapter 3). In 2008 I presented a paper (based on parts of Chapter 1) at the AHRC/ESRCfunded Religion and Community Cohesion workshop hosted by the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics at Royal Holloway. Also in 2008 I was invited to present a paper at a one-day seminar on War on Terror: Policy and Legislative Responses held at the Bristol Institute of Public Affairs, Bristol University, which included parts of Chapter 2. In terms of publications, an early version of Chapter 3 was published in Patterns of Prejudice under the title The Paths to Citizenship: A Critical Examination of Immigration Policy in Britain Since 2001, volume 43 (1), pp. 41 64. I would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on this article. I owe the proposal reviewer and manuscript reviewer (in this case the same person) selected by Palgrave Macmillan a great deal of thanks for their insightful comments and suggestions for improving the overall presentation of the book. viii

Acknowledgements ix As well as the above I would like to thank a number of academics who have in various ways offered advice, support and suggestions in conversations, in responding to papers and in the reading draft chapters: Andrew Mason, David Owen, Neil Chakraborti, Varun Uberoi, Nasar Meer, Gabe Mythen, Dave Whyte, Basia Spalek, Frank Gregory, Tariq Modood, Tony McGrew, Tony Breslin, Liz Fekete and Ellie Vasta. I would also like to thank friends (you know who you are) and family, especially, Andy and the Cullis family and my parents, Jeanette and John, for all of their support in the writing of this book.

Preface The idea of writing this book emerged out of the final chapter of my previous book The End of Multiculturalism? Terrorism, Integration and Human Rights (Open University Press) in which I briefly speculated on some of the discourses, policies and proposals that emerged in the first few months of Gordon Brown s premiership. By the time I submitted The End of Multiculturalism? for publication in the autumn of 2007, Gordon Brown had only been in office for a few months. At this time, the Prevent (counter-terrorism community policing) strategy had just been introduced and the managed migration points system which was introduced in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 had not come into force yet (it came into force in March 2008). Furthermore the proposals for the creation of a Statement of British Values and a potential Bill of Rights and Duties had been introduced in The Governance of Britain Green Paper just a few months before in July 2007. The purpose of writing this book, Security, Citizenship and Human Rights: Shared Values in Uncertain Times, is to follow-up on these and other areas of public policy under Gordon Brown. However, in a number of chapters of this book I compare and contrast the differences, similarities, continuities and discontinuities in the approaches adopted by Blair and Brown to a range of areas of public policy, for example, counter-terrorism, immigration, integration, citizenship and human rights. Security, Citizenship and Human Rights: Shared Values in Uncertain Times includes chapters that take on critical and sometimes normative perspective with regard to some of the most high-profile aspects of Britain s public policy arena: counter-terrorism, immigration, citizenship, human rights and even the equalities agenda in the context of the economic downturn. The chapters in the book also offer an examination of the shifting discourses of shared values and human rights in contemporary Britain. One of the arguments at the centre of the book is that citizenship is being remade and remoulded around public security in the context of a culture of fear in contemporary Britain. The major question posed in this book is do policy and legislation driven and legitimized by fear strengthen or weaken our sense of citizenship, shared values and commitment to human rights? A further argument is made in the book concerning the politics of fear, that is, it not only leads to value x

Preface xi trouble it also leads to what Parekh calls hierarchical thinking with regard to deciding whose human rights come first. As well as including chapters that explore fear -driven policy making with regard to counterterrorism, immigration, citizenship and human rights, this book also contains chapters that examine evidence of examples of what will be tentatively called here the politics of hope in the arena of British public policy dedicated to promoting procedural fairness and greater equalities. It will be suggested in these chapters that glimmers of a politics of hope are evident in debates with regard to the extension of human rights protections and the developments with regard to the new equalities legislation in the UK. It will be argued here that rather than the authoritarian deployment of the discourse of British shared values and the hierarchical, rebalancing discourses with regard to human rights proffered by politicians in the name of public security, the politics of hope is associated with encouraging debates on what our shared values actually are and should be and the formal role these values ought to play in our constitutional framework, including underwriting a potential Bill of Rights in the UK.