xviii Preface It deeply affected how Americans view their government and how well—or badly—the government is protecting its citizens from terror, both domestic and international. As do all books in the Contemporary World Issues series, Homeland Security approaches its subject in a straightforward and objective manner. It illuminates the complexity of home- land security issues and the ongoing struggle by policy makers to secure the homeland while balancing a number of Ameri- can values and concerns that are inherently conflicted. Current American politics struggles with the issue. The book examines the historical background to better understand the approach governments—federal, state, and local—have taken to achieve security. It discusses the extensive discourse in our scholarly literature that explains or advocates government policy con- cerning homeland security. It focuses primarily on the govern- ment policy response since 2001. It offers answers to essential questions about national and homeland security concerns and issues that are inherently interconnected. It tries to make that discourse accessible to high school students, undergradu- ate students, and general readers who have become interested in this complex topic that spans immigration policy, border control and security, and complex human rights issues that are intertwined with homeland security policy. It examines the his- tory and background and explores the myriad problems and controversies raised by the attempt to secure the nation from terrorism while grappling with human rights, civil and privacy rights, the interrelations of minority groups and the majority society, the right to religious beliefs and freedoms balanced with the need to protect the safety of citizens facing a threat that is so often perceived as coming from a “foreign religion.” A perspective chapter offers a broad range of voices from all sides of the issue. They add crucial and diverse perspectives to that of the author’s expertise and come from other established scholars of the topic, from beginning scholars approaching the issues with state-of-the-art analyses, and from stakehold- ers affected by and therefore involved in the complex politics
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