Secrecy and the Liberal State

Abstract

It is possible to trace the emergence of the state, understood as an entity in its own right, to the sixteenth century, when states as we know them today were in their infancy. The ‘reason of state’ tradition, which emerged during this period, made some compelling and novel claims — claims that, arguably, were inherited by the liberal tradition (grounded upon natural law theory) that largely superseded it.¹