Clifford Shearing

Governmentality, criticism, politics

The growth of the governmentality literature represents a significant development in current social theory. However, certain prominent and interlinked tendencies, which are associated with the place of politics as a subject and object of theoretical work, are queried. Most especially the concerns are with: the rejection of critique as part of the work of social theory; the rendering of government programmes as univocal and as overly coherent and systematic; and the focus on politics as “mentalities of rule” to the virtual exclusion of understanding politics as social relations. The paper explores some of these difficulties which are here seen as presenting problems for the future development of governmentality research and theory. Without aiming to systematize the literature, nevertheless the paper suggests that the time is overdue for central issues in the literature of governmentality to become the subject of more open and vigorous debate.

Nodal Governance, Democracy, and the New ‘Denizens’

We begin this paper by reviewing some recent transformations in governance. We then propose three new concepts that we believe assist us in coming to terms with these transformations and the political statuses that have emerged as part of them. These concepts are ‘nodal governance’, ‘denizens’, and ‘communal space’. Following this we will explore the normative implications of nodal governance as it has taken shape to date, with an emphasis on the ‘governance disparity’ that is paralleling the ‘wealth disparity’ across the globe. In response to this disparity, we will end with an outline of a normative vision and practical programme aimed at deepening democracy in poor areas of South Africa, Argentina, and elsewhere. We will argue that the main virtue of nodal governance, namely, the emphasis on local capacity and knowledge can be retrieved, reaffirmed, and reinstitutionalized in ways that enhance the self-direction of poor communities while strengthening their ‘collective capital’.

Policing for a New South Africa

Introduction 1. Through the loking-glass PART 1 - Catharsis 2. Policing apartheid - violence within the rules 3. Police culture and the discourse of supremacy 4. Township policing - experiencing the S.A.P. PART 2 - Pathways of reform 5. An orthodox solution 6. Processes of ordering in the townships 7. Towards a dual system of policing Notes Bibliography Name Index Subject Index

Modern Private Security: Its Growth and Implications

On the North American continent, in Europe and elsewhere, the dramatic growth in private security in the past several decades has reshaped the structure and function of modern policing. The development of private security has been facilitated by fundamental shifts in the nature of property relations. These changes have encouraged the development of a preventative mode of policing consistent with the principles and hopes of nineteenth-century police reformers, but they also suggest that we are moving in the direction of a new disciplinary society and raise fundamental questions with respect to sovereignty, justice, and individual liberty now almost entirely unrecognized. In particular, the legal institutions regarding private property operate to enhance the potential threat to individual liberty posed by the development of modern private security.

Punishment and the Changing Face of the Governance

The article explores the implication of shifts in the way in which security and justice are being conceived. It argues that the emergence of a logic of risk is refiguring the way in which punishment is being used as a tactic of governance.

A nodal conception of governance: Thoughts on a policing commission

I have been asked to comment briefly on the work of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland. This paper complements and overlaps with two other pieces I have recently written on the work of the Commission.

What enables local governments to mainstream climate change adaptation? Lessons learned from two municipal case studies in the Western Cape, South Africa

Municipalities represent a key opportunity for implementing local adaptation to the impacts of climate change. Most research has focused on the barriers to climate change adaptation, and little research exists that considers the conditions under which a municipality is able to initiate the process of mainstreaming climate adaptation. Through a case study of two municipalities in the Western Cape of South Africa, this paper identifies the factors that enable action to be taken at the local government level. The presence of dedicated environmental champions is key, particularly within political leadership. Experiencing the costs of climate change often provides the strongest initial catalyst for action and is aided by the recognition that the local environment has value. Access to a knowledge base, the availability of resources, political stability and the presence of dense social networks all positively affect adaptation mainstreaming. It is these enabling factors that other government levels and stakeholders need to support with different interventions. We draw attention to two under-researched topics, the effect of political instability on municipal functioning and the effects of social network characteristics on facilitating institutional change.

The Governance of Security in Weak and Failing States

This article seeks to identify means of strengthening social control and conflict resolution in weak and failing states. It begins by discussing the governance of public security in stronger states, and identifies three basic forms of engagement between state and non-state institutions that may contribute to the co-production of public security: coercion, sale and gift. The article then seeks to identify institutional arrangements that might be transplanted to those settings where conventional state institutions of security may be in decline, or non-existent. It also suggests how new institutions might be invented in settings where states may be dysfunctional or otherwise lacking in capacity. It develops a typology of security provision, including auspices that are public; public under private arrangements; collective or voluntary; private/national; private/international; and criminal. By identifying new mechanisms for the governance of security, it may be possible to arrest the deterioration of states, or at least provide for a modicum of internal security. The article concludes with a discussion of the Zwelethemba model of peacemaking and peacebuilding that is being developed in South Africa.

The Scientification of Police Work

It is now accepted wisdom among scholars of law and society that the law derives its strength by providing for two discourses. There is the discourse of the public culture: its normative sentiments about the rule of law provides a legitimating symbolic canopy for the work of police and other legal agents. There is also the discourse of the operational reality of social control on behalf of the state: the law allows police and other legal agents to take the actions they deem necessary, and yet be able to construe them and account for them in terms which make them publicly acceptable.

Reforming Police: Opportunities, Drivers and Challenges

Abstract A few years ago, David Bayley and Clifford Shearing (1996) argued that at the end of the 20th century we were witnessing a ‘watershed’ in policing, when transformations were occurring in the practices and sponsorship of policing on a scale unprecedented since the developments that heralded the creation of the ‘New Police’ in the 19th century. In this special issue of the journal, we and our fellow contributors turn our attention to a somewhat neglected aspect of this ‘quiet revolution’ in policing (Stenning & Shearing, 1980), namely the nature of the opportunities for, and challenges posed by, the reform of policing in different parts of the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Our attention in this issue is particularly focused on the opportunities, drivers and challenges in reforming public (state-sponsored) police institutions.