Seguridad y libertad en tiempo de terrorismo internacional: entre percepción de inseguridad y populismo

This chapter addresses the perception of insecurity that characterizes civil society in times of stress and the need to fight public security threats (e.g. international terrorism) as well as the impact of counter-measures on rights and freedoms. In particular, the author, taking a comparative perspective, focuses on how people’s feeling of insecurity has been exploited by populist rhetoric in order to increase political consensus on limitations of personal freedoms and, more in general, securitarian drifts. The conclusion of this work warns against this phenomenon, which could represent a serious risk for democracy, and argues in favour of a more balanced approach.