Policing Protest: The Post-Democratic State and the Figure of Black Insurrection(Global and Insurgent Legalities)

In Policing Protest Paul A. Passavant explores how the policing of protest in the United States has become increasingly hostile since the late 1990s, moving away from strategies that protect protesters toward militaristic practices designed to suppress protests. He identifies reactions to three interrelated crises that converged to institutionalize this new mode of policing: the political mobilization of marginalized social groups in the Civil Rights era that led to a perceived crisis of democracy, the urban fiscal crisis of the 1970s, and a crime crisis that was associated with protests and civil disobedience of the 1960s. As Passavant demonstrates, these reactions are all haunted by the figure of black insurrection, which continues to shape policing of protest and surveillance, notably in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Ultimately, Passavant argues, this trend of violent policing strategies against protesters is evidence of the emergence of a post-democratic state in the United States.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments  ix Introduction. Policing Protest and the Post-Democratic State  1 1. Aesthetic Government: Neoliberal Authoritarianism and the Post-Democratic Right of Expression  25 2. New York's Mega-Event: Security Legacy and the Postlegitmation State  62 3. Policing the Uprising: Occupy Wall Street and Order Maintenance Policing  98 4. Violent Appearances and Neoliberalisms's Disintegrated Political Subjects  141 5. Political Antagonisn: #BlackLivesMatter and the Postlegitimation, Post-Democratic State  184 Conclusion. Policing Protest and Neoliberal Authoritarianism  239 Notes  253 Bibliography  315 Index  333

About the Author :
Paul A. Passavant is Associate Professor of Political Science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the author of No Escape: Freedom of Speech and the Paradox of Rights, and coeditor of Empire's New Clothes: Reading Hardt and Negri.

Review :
“This book affected me like a good shot of whiskey. Complex, bracing, needed.” - Lester K. Spence, author of (Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics) “Although of late a lot has been written on policing, nothing that I have read takes up this important topic of protest policing, let alone gives it such a far-reaching and well-supported reading. The policing of protest turns out to be a distinctive but truly revealing piece of contemporary policing, one that no one has covered as comprehensively as Paul A. Passavant does in this text.” - Jonathan Simon, author of (Mass Incarceration on Trial: A Remarkable Court Decision and the Future of Prisons in America) “A masterful book filled with keen insights about policing protests using grounded data and compelling stories. It’s easily the best analysis I’ve read on this topic and sets a new standard for theoretical integration, clarity, and real-world relevance.” - Peter B. Kraska, author of (Militarizing the American Criminal Justice System: The Changing Roles of the Armed Forces and the Police) "Policing Protest is a compelling read for scholars and graduate students interested in the police state and its institutional developments in law, political culture, and urban political economy." - Shannon Woods (E3W Review of Books) "Policing Protest is an exceptionally good book-persuasively argued, meticulously researched, and stunning in its explanatory power." - Erin R. Pineda (Perspectives on Politics) "Passavant’s Policing Protest is a book that eerily puts recent events into a new perspective and adds to our understanding of how the police are engaging with our right to protest." - Tyler Dadge (Ethnic and Racial Studies) "Policing Protest is a profound, groundbreaking, and urgent work that should be read by students of US politics, criminal justice, democratic theory, race and racism, and constitutional law." - Joseph Lowndes (Theory & Event) "Skillfully connects seemingly disconnected trends and features of contemporary life to construct a cohesive and novel understanding of the legal, political, and economic predicament in which we find ourselves. The book is at once sweeping in its implications, nuanced in its arguments, and detailed in the evidence it brings to bear on these questions. It will be of great interest to scholars of social movements, policing, and law as well as a broader audience of those concerned about protecting the freedom to engage in dissent." - Heidi Reynolds-Stentson (Criminal Law & Criminal Justice Book Reviews)