In this, the last episode of our first season, we’ll look at one final issue which bears on the question of backsliding – how democratic constitutions deal with the secret state. Even in democratic states some aspects of state activity are difficult or impossible to make fully transparent and accountable to the public. 

This is because some actions must necessarily be covert in order to be effective – from the operation of intelligence services to military operations and sensitive weapons systems . Governments may need to be able to protect certain information about this from public release, temporarily or - even more problematically - indefinitely. 

Can such restrictions ever be justified from the perspective of democratic states, and if so, where does necessary information security cross the line into secret states which exist beyond democracy?

Guest: Prof. Harold Hongju Koh