Ian Loader and Richard Sparks, Public Criminology?
| Author | Nic Groombridge |
| Published date | 01 October 2011 |
| Date | 01 October 2011 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1462474509385626 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
say the least, in any expansion of the spectrum of political legitimacy – has its
academic counterpart in the sub-discipline of anti-terrorism studies.
However, this review should not end there. Three essays – one each by the two
editors and one by Donatella Della Porta – engage with the problematic of disen-
gagement from armed struggle activity, and do so (largely) without endorsing the
underlying assumptions of the ‘anti-terrorism’ agenda. Horgan usefully distin-
guishes between (multiple types of) psychological disengagement and (multiple
types of) physical disengagement, and makes the point that ‘the disengaged terror-
ist may not necessarily be repentant or ‘‘deradicalised’’ at all’ (p. 27) – a significant
insight, although one which cuts against much of the analysis presented elsewhere
in the volume. Bjørgo situates the process of disengagement within the continuing
interaction between group and member, identifying the significance of ‘push fac-
tors’ (e.g. discontent with the group), ‘pull factors’ (e.g. desire for a ‘normal’ life)
and factors inhibiting disengagement (e.g. social bonds within the group). Della
Porta, lastly, usefully distinguishes between processes fostering disengagement at
multiple levels – macro (society), micro (the individual) and meso (the group) – and
emphasizes that these may produce very different types of disengagement (through
mass incarceration, through individual burn-out or through factional vendetta).
These three essays all lay down valuable groundwork for future studies of politi-
cally violentlives, as well as offering usefulinsights in their own right. What theyhave
in common, and what sets them apart from most of the other contributions, here is
that they attempt to engage with the choice of political violence as part of an activist
career; this leads them inevitably to view terrorism and terrorists in a very different
light from the guiding assumptions of anti-terrorism studies. In their own contribu-
tions, in short, Horganand Bjørgo join Della Porta in treating terrorism as an anom-
alous form of political participation and terrorists as a type of activist; Bjørgo in
particular also brings to bear the insights of ‘criminal career’ and gangs research,
suggestinga potentially fruitfulcomposite approach to the analysisof terrorist careers.
We can hope tha t Horgan and his col leagues pursue the se lines of researc h in future,
rather than the directions represented by the bulk of this collection.
Phil Edwards
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Ian Loader and Richard Sparks, Public Criminology?, Routledge; 208 pp.: 9780415445504, £22.99
The blurb of this book asks:
What is the role and value of criminology in a democratic society? How do, and how
should, its practitioners engage with politics and public policy? How can criminology
find a voice in an agitated, insecure and intensely mediated world in which crime and
punishment loom large in government agendas and public discourse? What collective
good do we want criminological enquiry to promote?
494 Punishment & Society 13(4)
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