First published 2014
The thirteenth Munk Debate takes place in Toronto on May 2, 2014. Former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden teams with civil liberties attorney Alan Dershowitz to defend government surveillance programs. They face off against journalist Glenn Greenwald and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who argue that mass surveillance threatens democratic freedoms. The debate centers on whether democracies can justify large-scale monitoring of citizens to combat modern security threats. Hayden and Dershowitz contend that existing laws and institutions can balance individual privacy with collective security needs. Greenwald and Ohanian warn that unchecked surveillance apparatus endangers the civil liberties that protect basic freedoms and democratic society. As Internet privacy concerns grow more urgent, the four debaters grapple with the fundamental question of whether governments should monitor citizen activities in the name of safety.
Genres: political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, academic
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: debate
Setting: Toronto
Period: 2014
128 pages · Paperback · House of Anansi Press