LSE IDEAS: media player

Contributor(s): Matthew Connelly

Released on 2 June 2015

In the wake of Wikileaks and Edward Snowden, it would seem that the US state is obsessed with surveillance and secrecy. But has this always been the case? Professor Matthew Connelly, Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS, explains how the twentieth century transformed the radical transparency of the American Republic into a culture of state secrecy and a threat to open government.