^^ This was shown in UK a few years ago; an absolutely excellent series, I thought - although I thought it was Channel 4, rather than BBC...? Maybe I'm wrong.
Sorry - OBVIOUSLY I was wrong
The programme's gist tallies with a theory in critical security studies which is based around the premise of the protection racket; the state effectively runs as a protection racket, telling people that if the don't do this or that, (and give up certain rights, for example), then they will be putting themselves at risk. Thus, the state gains power (in its role as "protector"), and the people (as "the protected") give up power.
As a US Navy Seal once put it, "Freedom: a feeling the protected will never know"