Individual freedoms and national security are sometimes seen as two opposites. However, in ideal, national security should reflect the balanced relationship between the two mentioned concepts. Moreover, the principle of the prevalence of individual freedoms over the national security underlies the democratic idea. Individual freedoms include individual rights and are protected by the US Constitution (Longley). This paper argues that individual freedoms should never be sacrificed in the name of national security.
This essay proposes that the protection of individual freedoms by maintaining national security is a fundamental principle and goal of democracy. US President Joe Biden notes, “I strongly believe that democracy is the key to freedom, prosperity, peace, and dignity” (Biden 3). Unlike authoritarian or totalitarian systems, a democratic system puts individual freedoms ahead of national security interests. The implementation of this principle always raises controversy, since there is no single rule universal for all cases. However, individual freedoms are protected in most areas of social life, including migration, cyber security, economic stability, and international diplomatic relations. Interestingly, actual cyber security policy and practice take both human-centric and national-security-centric approaches (Deibert 411). In this regard, the states develop “indivisible network security on a planetary scale for the widest possible coverage of the human experience” (Deibert 412). The above example indicates the breadth of possibilities for applying the principle.
There is probably a counter-argument against the opinion that national security interests should take precedence over individual freedoms. This position can be justified by an external threat or military ambitions and is usually applied by authoritarian regimes. This position is wrong since national security should protect the interest of every citizen, not the abstract idea of the nation. Every citizen is part of the nation and their freedoms should be sacred.
Thus, it was discussed, how individual freedoms should never be sacrificed in the name of national security. The necessity to sacrifice individual freedoms is usually promoted by authoritarian regimes whose real purpose is to meet the interests of the regime. On the contrary, in democratic states, individual freedoms are fundamental and cannot be violated under any circumstances. These freedoms are sacred and ensure the integrity of the democratic states.