Dynamics of Liberty and Rights in Crisis - State, National Security and Individual Rights

The state through its government machinery has the ultimate obligation to safeguard the national security of the nation and in order to do so may curb the rights and liberties of individuals in the larger interest of the state. This forms a tripartite relation between the state, national security and individual rights with numerous externalities encroaching the triangle. The ambit of national security and subsequent rights of the individual it affects has evolved over the years. This paper attempts to discuss each component and their interrelationship through a comparative analysis of various states and eras. It also aims to suggest the maintenance of an exercise of balance between national security demands and its purportedly antithetical individual rights avoiding the trade-off between individual rights and larger public interest.