Actors/Agents; Bertolt Brecht and the Politics of Secrecy

摘要

In modernity, political secrecy is something fishy. While for centuries circumspect rulers and skilled generals practiced the art of secrecy to implement and secure their power, the modern ideal of political transparency is suspicious of every state secret. Whatever governments keep secret, whatever is not exposed to public judgment, is seen as something that cannot be legitimated. State secrets are always potentially state crimes. Today, secret intelligence is accepted only as a necessary evil: At its best it is half-heartedly accepted as an instance of control and defense that cannot help but violate civil liberties and privacy. At its worst Secret Services are regarded as ruthless organizations executing the government's dirty work. In a democratic culture, secrecy is generally seen as a "pathology" of the political.