Hypnotic Security and Democracy in the Age of the Digital Panopticon

from Hobbes to Pegasus

Abstract

This article critically analyzes the transformation of the concept of security from classical modernity to the current techno-capitalist era and its implications for democracy. Through a genealogy that begins with Hobbes’s theory of the Leviathan State and extends to the digital challenges of 2025, it shows how the notion of security has shifted from a guarantee against fear and violence to an ideological device that stabilizes the status quo of global capitalism. The theoretical framework combines ideological critique, biopolitics, securitization theory, and data surveillance studies in order to unravel the contemporary mechanisms of algorithmic social control. Current cases are examined — such as the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (2024), the reauthorization of FISA §702 in the US (2024), algorithmic changes in Twitter/X (2024), and the criminalization of the climate collective Letzte Generation in Germany — which exemplify the tension between security, technology, and civil liberties. In the conclusion, several initiatives are anticipated for further development — including demopedia, algorithmic transparency, data unions, and public platforms — aimed at redirecting security toward the democratic public interest, while anticipating possible objections and offering responses. The remainder of the conclusion underscores the urgency of restoring citizen control over digital infrastructures and outlines a future research agenda to strengthen democracy in the face of the hypnotic logic of techno-capitalist security.