Day 9: Goals: Liberty and Security

Daniel J. Mallinson

School of Public AffairsPenn State Harrisburgmallinson@psu.edu

PUBPL 304

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Road map

Finish discussing welfare

Examine the seemingly conflictual relationshipbetween security and liberty

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Goals

Goals in Public Policy Making

Equity

Efficiency

Welfare

Liberty

Security

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Moral Hazard

Definition: lack of incentive to guard against risk where one isprotected from its consequences

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Moral Hazard

Examples: Corporate and individual welfare

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Welfare

Big Questions

How should we define welfare?

How do we distinguish need and desire?

How do we measure welfare?

How should government “promote the general welfare”

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Our Topic of the Day: The Internet

Figure: “2012 Internet Census Size” by Cody Hofstetter, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Liberty and Security

Ideals

Government needs to balance the community and the individual

Mill: Can curb liberty to protect others from harm

But, when and why?

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Stone’s Ranking of Harm Claims

Criteria

Strength

Ease of assertion

Rank1 Physical

2 Economic

3 Amenity

4 Psychic

5 Spiritual and Moral

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Politics of Harm

Key point: Claim of harm needs to be asserted

and legitimized by a political process

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Paradox of Harm

Preventing one harm can cause another; the

balancing act is tricky

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Security

Figure: Source: U.S. Air Force

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Definitions

Insecurity

“worry that something bad will happen.”

Security

Guaranteed absence of bad things; a lack of worry

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Three Concepts of Security

Psychological

State of mind over things outsideof our control

Political

Security comes from elite policymaking

Scientific

Mathematical assessment of risk

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Psychological Security

Insecurity is a feeling (dread,anxiety, powerlessness)

Risk is ever present, insecurityis not

Socially constructed

Some issues easier todramatize (murder vs.climate change)

Risk is a matter ofperspective

Figure: Chernobyl Pripyat by Max Pixel, CC0

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Scientific Analysis

Risk

Likelihood of something badhappening

Expected Value

Product of whether(likelihood) and how bad

Standardized unit for settingpriorities

Figure: Source: Hackmageddon

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Political Response

DO Something

Want to be seen as taking action

Can lead to overreach

Figure: Source: Symantec 2017

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Liberty and Security

To what extent are liberty and security a trade-off?

To what extent can we reconcile the two?

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