Colin Atkinson

Police culture: adapting to the strains of the job

The celebrated criminologist James Sheptycki has remarked that the police ‘looks different from the outside’ (Sheptycki 1994). The front cover of Eugene A. Paoline and William Terrill’s 2014 book P...

Making Up Gangs: Looping, Labelling and the New Politics of Intelligence-led Policing

The 2011 ‘summer of violent disorder’ in England cast a spotlight on the often arbitrary and uneven process through which individuals become labelled as ‘gang-members’. Based on data from two separate but concurrently conducted qualitative studies in Glasgow, Scotland, this article draws on the critical vocabularies of Bourdieu and Hacking to conceptualize this new frontier in the politics of gang policing: analysing the distinctive ‘fields’ that street-based young people and police actors inhabit; uncovering the complex chain of interactions through which individuals become labelled as ‘gang-members’; and exploring the consequences of such labelling processes.

Patriarchy, gender, infantilisation: a cultural account of police intelligence work in Scotland

Drawing upon qualitative research undertaken in Scotland, this paper provides new insights into police culture by exploring the interactions between sworn police officers and civilian intelligence analysts engaged in intelligence work. The claim is made that by exploring the cultural impact of intelligence analysis, it is possible to identify patriarchal dispositions within police culture and the emergence of a gender order in policing that subordinates femininity, youth and other masculinities that run counter to police cultures form of hegemonic masculinity. This gender order is interwoven with processes of infantilisation that inhibit the integration of intelligence analysts into police intelligence work. This article concludes by discussing the prospects for cultural change in policing from the inter-related perspectives of both social theory and professional practice.

The threat from within: recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired radicalization and terrorism in the West

Review of The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-Inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West, by Phil Gurski, London, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016

Muslims in Scotland: the making of community in a post-9/11 world

Rethinking terrorism makes the simple, yet provocative argument that terrorism is a product of the modern state. In this compelling treatise, Colin Wight argues that states monopolise violence and that terrorism is best understood as a violent rejection of this process and its legitimacy. Wight makes an important contribution to the academic debate by positioning terrorism within the state structure. This runs contrary to much of the current literature that portrays terrorism as the transgressive behaviour of troubled individuals. Terrorists do break the rules of contemporary society. However, Wight reminds us that it is a mistake to view Western democracy as the natural order. The state-building process was a struggle for the ownership of violence. Even liberal democracies are built on coercion. Thus, it is hardly surprising that some choose to turn the state’s own weapons against its apparatus. This book provides useful theoretical tools for those seeking to study terrorism at both macro and micro levels. Wight’s structural analysis provides a framework for understanding terrorism from an historical perspective. For as long as there are groups that seek to monopolise violence, there will be those who challenge such efforts. This systemic view can also provide valuable context for micro analyses. From a structural perspective, terrorism is not the irrational actions of psychopaths, nor the result of indoctrination. It is part of the very fabric of the modern state system. Rethinking terrorism also makes a valuable submission to the on-going search for a definition of terrorism. In the post 9/11 discourse there has been a tendency to employ inflationary definitions that understand terrorism as any act that inspires terror. As fear is a product of all forms of violence, such definitions have encompassed everything from acts of war to domestic violence. If terrorism studies is to develop into a robust discipline it requires a clear conceptualisation of terrorism that distinguishes it from other forms of political violence. Wight proposes a narrow definition to help scholars delimit their subject matter. This focused approach may help to bring much-needed coherence to the field.

Book review: Pamela Davies, Peter Francis and Tanya Wyatt (eds), Invisible Crimes and Social Harms

more innocent end of the street cultural spectrum, and there could have been more on street culture among older and more hardcore offenders. For example, street culture also has considerable impact on what seems to be characterized as organized crime in this book. Finally, although language barriers and academic traditions may make this difficult to avoid, for a book aiming to describe global street culture, its emphasis is still mainly on research from the UK and USA. The most important contribution of this book is to establish and explore the cultural spectrum of street culture, but it also offers several other important perspectives. Ilan argues that contrary to common assumptions, street culture is not a form of resistance or opposition. Instead, he argues that street culture is in many ways similar to mainstream culture, from which it is excluded. This is primarily because of consumerism and the emphasis on gaining and displaying wealth. At the same time, Ilan argues that street culture is not merely a product of popular culture industries, but that elements of street culture are embraced and commercialized by mainstream society. This makes the culture potentially empowering for marginalized populations. This book is also an exemplary study of neo-liberal globalization, and in contrast to the dominant trend in UK sociology and criminology, these concepts are actually defined, exemplified and employed in an analytical manner. Understanding the nuances and complexities of street culture has never been more important. Youths move from the street corner to screens, but street culture does not disappear. It is diffusing into the Internet and mainstream youth culture, making the boundaries between marginalized and mainstream cultural expressions and practices increasingly blurry. While street culture has always been closely related to street crime, it is now also increasingly mixed into non-street crimes, for example school shootings and terrorism. Street cultural tropes, styles and concerns are an important part of the cultural bricolage constituting contemporary political and religious violence. Understanding Street Culture is an excellent and timely book – an unusual study that will become increasingly important in times to come.

Mark Phythian (ed.), Understanding the Intelligence Cycle

into a piece of fruit or hiding a report on the back of a small dog, underneath a false fur coat). However, although a list of enemy agents is provided as an Appendix, what the book lacks is a full alphabetical index – which an editormight readily have provided – and it would benefit from a map of the UK, ideally linked to the text, showing where the various incidents took place. What Nigel West has provided is a fairly detailed Foreword but, although insightful, it might better have been offered as a postscript, as the perceptive nature of his comments only really becomes apparent after one has read the book. In conclusion, for anyone looking for an overview of MI5’s work between 1914 and 1918, this is not the answer. It is, nevertheless, a volume for the serious student of history. However, lacking a useable index, it is questionable how easy it would be to make reference to it.

Huw Dylan, Defence Intelligence and the Cold War: Britain's Joint Intelligence Bureau 1945–1964

North, provides an excellent overview of the Russian military and economic strategic relationship with the Arctic region pre-2014 Crimean conflict. It is detail-rich, with a wealth of research clearly evident throughout. Though the book is not as strong in its assessment of other countries and its efforts to draw comparisons between them and Russia’s approach toward its Arctic region, on the subject which the book concentrates on – the Russian Arctic – it is well researched and presented.

Evaluating counterterrorism performance: a comparative study

work is a foreword by former militant actor turned author Ahmed Rashid, as well as an appendix detailing the leadership of the IS organisation. The book is of high value to those interested in Middle Eastern affairs or terrorism studies, specifically IS. Chapter 1 shows the evolution of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s organisation from inception as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, to affiliation with al-Qaeda as Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2004, to continued expansion as Mujahideen Shura Council and Islamic State of Iraq in 2006–2009. Key to IS’s rise and fall during this period was its anti-Sunni ideology and financial acquirements that enabled capability and radicalisation through organised leadership. Its recovery and expansion to caliphate in 2009–2014 drew upon multiple leadership models and used social media to a new level of expertise and effect. Chapter 2 expands on the history lessons learned, and provides specific, contextual examples of religious, military and political leadership, as well as the potent social media campaigning by IS. Lister’s analysis clearly shows that the organisation has consistently maintained its core aim of establishing a ‘Sunni Islamic State’ founded in Wahhabism and Sharia law. Chapter 3 provides Lister’s conclusions and commentary on tried and untried methods for combating IS. Lister is a Brookings InstitutionMiddle East expert, so the depth of analysis of this case study comes as no surprise. Of the more than half a dozen books currently on the market, this book easily stands out as one of the most accurate, unbiased and scholarly in its theses.

Britain and the war on terror: policy, strategy and operations

Language is important in how we define and respond to terrorism. There may be no more important phrase in this context than “war on terror”, which largely came to define the responses of many states to al-Qaeda related and inspired terrorism after the 9/11 attacks. Whilst the subject of the “war on terror” in the American context has been well traversed by academics and the media, explorations of British involvement have been fewer in number, with clear consequences for the depth of our knowledge and understanding. Warren Chin’s Britain and the war on terror: Policy, strategy and operations tries to understand how the “war on terror” has framed and influenced the British response to terrorism in the post-9/11 security landscape. The book’s eight chapters explore a range of strategic issues: Britain’s framework for its “war on terror”, al-Qaeda’s own framework, the recourse to war in Iraq and subsequent occupation, strategy and operations in Afghanistan, and the “war on terror” in the domestic context. Chin also seeks to understand why Britain, with its extensive experience in counterterrorism, resorted to a strategy he considers to be so deeply flawed. Chin’s criticism of British strategy in responding to the constellation of terrorist threats it faced after 9/ 11 is clear: “The British war on terror represented a classic example of how not to plan and conduct a war” (p. 214). In September 2001 the then PrimeMinister, Tony Blair, declared that Britain was “at war with terrorism”, but since at least 2007 the British government has disavowed the phrase “waron terror”. There emerged a realisation that terrorismcouldnot be countered through military means alone, and that framing the issue as such was both counterproductive and dangerous. Chin explains how the British acknowledged that the struggle for “hearts and minds” was as important as operations on the battlefield. The rejection of the “war on terror” rhetoric—which occurred with relative speed compared to in the United States—became an important part of British counterterrorism strategy. Britain and the war on terror provides a critical layer in the bulwark to prevent the use of such misguided rhetoric in the future. In that sense, this book represents a welcome addition to the bookshelves of academics and students, and should be required reading for the politicians, policy-makers and military and intelligence practitioners of the future.