TY - JOUR
T1 - Powers, liabilities and expertise in community safety
T2 - Comparative lessons for 'urban security' from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
AU - Gilling, Daniel
AU - Hughes, Gordon
AU - Bowden, Matthew
AU - Edwards, Adam
AU - Henry, Alistair
AU - Topping, John
PY - 2013/5
Y1 - 2013/5
N2 - This paper begins by outlining and critiquing what we term the dominant anglophone model of neo-liberal community safety and crime prevention. As an alternative to this influential but flawed model, a comparative analysis is provided of the different constitutional-legal settlements in each of the five jurisdictions across the UK and the Republic of Ireland (ROI), and their uneven institutionalization of community safety. In the light of this it is argued that the nature of the anglophone community safety enterprise is actually subject to significant variation. Summarizing the contours of this variation facilitates our articulation of some core dimensions of community safety. Then, making use of Colebatch's (2002) deconstruction of policy activity into categories of authority and expertise, and Brunsson's (2002) distinction between policy talk, decisions and action, we put forward a way of understanding policy activity that avoids the twin dangers of 'false particularism' and 'false universalism' (Edwards and Hughes, 2005); that indicates a path for further empirical enquiry to assess the 'reality' of policy convergence; and that enables the engagement of researchers with normative questions about where community safety should be heading.
AB - This paper begins by outlining and critiquing what we term the dominant anglophone model of neo-liberal community safety and crime prevention. As an alternative to this influential but flawed model, a comparative analysis is provided of the different constitutional-legal settlements in each of the five jurisdictions across the UK and the Republic of Ireland (ROI), and their uneven institutionalization of community safety. In the light of this it is argued that the nature of the anglophone community safety enterprise is actually subject to significant variation. Summarizing the contours of this variation facilitates our articulation of some core dimensions of community safety. Then, making use of Colebatch's (2002) deconstruction of policy activity into categories of authority and expertise, and Brunsson's (2002) distinction between policy talk, decisions and action, we put forward a way of understanding policy activity that avoids the twin dangers of 'false particularism' and 'false universalism' (Edwards and Hughes, 2005); that indicates a path for further empirical enquiry to assess the 'reality' of policy convergence; and that enables the engagement of researchers with normative questions about where community safety should be heading.
KW - Authority
KW - community safety
KW - comparative criminology
KW - constitutional-legal settlements
KW - expertise
KW - uneven institutionalization
KW - urban security
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876544869&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1477370813482612
DO - 10.1177/1477370813482612
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876544869
SN - 1477-3708
VL - 10
SP - 326
EP - 340
JO - European Journal of Criminology
JF - European Journal of Criminology
IS - 3
ER -