Surveillance hegemony

Abstract

The National Security Agency activity disclosed by Edward Snowden plugs into a larger information ecology made possible by US surveillance hegemony. While the revelations of the NSA’s international spying ambitions have astonished, there is more to US surveillance than secretive programs carried out by its intelligence community. The US also assiduously conducts surveillance on individuals abroad through public programs negotiated with other states. These more public efforts are made possible by institutions and hortatory norms that support international surveillance. This triad of capabilities, norms, and institutions reflect US surveillance hegemony. Hegemony greases the wheels of US-led international surveillance and fosters an information ecology that feeds, and is fed by, secretive programs like those of the NSA and more public surveillance alike. This article unpacks elements of US surveillance hegemony and situates the NSA activity within the resulting information ecology.