Book review: Peter Ramsay, The Insecurity State: Vulnerable Autonomy and the Right to Security in the Criminal Law
| Author | Harry Annison |
| Published date | 01 August 2013 |
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1362480613489620 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews 419
rioters, viewing the latter as part of a wave of popular revolt sweeping across large parts
of Europe and the Middle East. He would not be the first to make this comparison. All
riots and mass movements are uneven in terms of consciousness and political literacy.
The European movements are more advanced in this respect, but the point is that the
English events, if I read the argument correctly, are part of the same movement and can
be seen as infused with the same ‘moral economy’ (Klein here deploys Edward
Thompson’s famous terminology) concerning beliefs about injustice. Klein’s chapter
could have been better placed in the final section of the book which purports to deal
explicitly with the international context of the 2011 riots, in particular the Arab Spring
and the political turmoil in Greece. The opportunity is, however, largely missed and a
connection with the issues raised by Klein is not really made. In Chapter 16, John
Strawson contributes an excellent discussion of the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt
which remains just that. The following chapter on the Spanish movements is similarly
insulated from any comparison with England.
Briggs contributes the penultimate chapter by focusing on Greece and portraying
himself as a latter day Thucydides (sic), determined to document ‘what happened’. But
despite a potted history of Greece, a brief nod to contrasts with England, we learn largely
what we already knew: that the Greek events have been far more politicized than in the
UK and that the associated demonstrations are performative events rather than chaotic
looting. The most glaring omission in the account of ‘what happened’ in Greece is any
sustained discussion of the emergence of new forms of politics at both ends of the politi-
cal spectrum—Syriza on the left and Golden Dawn on the far right, and their comparison
with the English situation. Does Syriza, for example, represent the sort of radical politi-
cal coalition, already in evidence in other parts of the European Union, potentially able
to give the rioters on the streets some sense of political direction? Were the 2011 English
riots indicative of a political blockage? This relates back to Bateman’s discussion of the
impact on the English riots of the decline of the far left. Meanwhile, the strength of
Golden Dawn contrasts with the timid performance of the English Defence League in the
2011 riots as documented in Chapter 12 by Joel Busher. Might that change?
All these questions are open and one certainly does not demand a finished discussion
on such an urgent theme. This collection is certainly a useful contribution.
Reference
Žižek S (2011) Shoplifters of the world unite. London Review of Books, 19 August. Available at:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/2011/08/19/slavoj-zizek/shoplifters-of-the-world-unite (accessed 4 June
2013).
Peter Ramsay, The Insecurity State: Vulnerable Autonomy and the Right to Security in the Criminal Law,
Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2012; 9780199581061, £60 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Harry Annison, University of Oxford, UK
Peter Ramsay’s The Insecurity State examines the recent emergence of a ‘right to secu-
rity’ in the UK’s criminal law. Beginning with a detailed analysis of the Anti-Social
Behaviour Order (ASBO), Ramsay argues that the liabilities contained in the ASBO—
and the Coalition government’s proposed replacement—seek to protect a ‘freedom from
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