Secrecy is everywhere. The recent spate of revelations concerning foreign policy and national security secrets confirm that secrecy remains a complex and irreducible feature in the political life and organization of liberal democracies. This text will put questions of the making and unmaking of secrecy at the centre of political sociology, political science and security studies, offering a sustained theoretical reflection and empirical analysis of the productionof secrecy.

Secrecy is treated as a puzzle by the contributors to this volume, considering questions such as : What is state secrecy? What are the different political, ethical and organizational practices through which it has been accomplished and contested? What is the dynamism, permeability and productivity of secrecy, and the forms of power it brings to bear on social and political life?

Drawing on key cases such as the revelations of Edward Snowdon, the inquiries of the 9/11 comission and the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Orford Ness this volume will be of interest to students and scholars alike.