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Civil Liberties

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies

Definition

Civil liberties are the basic rights and freedoms derived from positive law. Civil liberties are defined in accordance with the legal status of the subject vis-à-vis a given state. The basis of the civil liberties is defined by each state individually by a contract (like a constitution) among the given state and subjects under its jurisdiction. The civil liberties are essentially designed to balance the power relationship between the subject and the state. In other words, the civil liberties protect individuals from the tyranny of the state. They guarantee protection of citizens from extrajudicial execution, arbitrary detention, and other similar arbitrary undertakings.

Civil liberties represent a specific portion of the human rights. Human rights term is the umbrella phrase to define the common standard of rights inherent to all peoples and all nations equally without any discrimination, as stated by the universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights are inherent to...

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References

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Further Reading

  • Deflem, M., & McDonough, S. (2015b). The fear of counterterrorism: Surveillance and civil liberties since 9/11. Society, 52(1), 70–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, L., Michael, K., & Albrecht, K. (2015). RFID: Helpful new technology or threat to privacy and civil liberties? IEEE Potentials, 34(5), 13–18.

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  • Richards, N. (2015). Intellectual privacy: Rethinking civil liberties in the digital age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • Stone, R. (2014). Textbook on civil liberties and human rights. USA: Oxford University Press.

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  • Sullivan, H. J. (2015). Civil rights and liberties: Provocative questions and evolving answers. Routledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Relations, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

    Tuğba Bayar

Authors
  1. Tuğba Bayar
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Correspondence to Tuğba Bayar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Alberta, AB, Canada

    Scott Romaniuk

  2. Nemzetkozi Tanulmanyok Intezet, Rm 503, Corvinus Univ, Inst of Intl Studies, Budapest, Hungary

    Péter Marton

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Bayar, T. (2021). Civil Liberties. In: Romaniuk, S., Marton, P. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_171-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_171-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74336-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74336-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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