Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Sociology - War and Peace, Military, grade: 2,3, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, course: Terrorism, National Security and Constitutional Rights, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the reaction to the new quality of terrorism after September 11, 2001 affects the balance between freedom and civil liberties on the one side, and national and public security on the other side. On the example of the Federal Republic of Germany it is examined, what civil liberties are affected and how. Before doing this, the issue of the perception of terrorism is shortly illuminated. The last part of the paper calls for the engagement of social scientists in response to the curbing of civil liberties and finally gives an outlook on the future development of the balance between freedom and security.