ABSTRACT
During the last 100 years, the concept of security has been used to justify war, revolution, torture, assassinations and invasions. The post-9/11 US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were justified partly by reference to the need to protect national security, and the threat of terrorism to domestic and international security was invoked to justify radical counterterrorism measures such as extended police and intelligence powers, as well as torture, extraordinary rendition and detention without charge (see Michaelsen 2005; Waldron 2006).
