NCJ Number
197556
Editor(s)
Adam Crawford
Date Published
2002
Length
334 pages
Annotation
Based on the presentations at a colloquium entitled, "Insecurity and Safety in the New Millennium," held at the University of Leeds on March 23, 2000, the chapters of this book bring together various disciplinary approaches to concerns related to contemporary insecurities and responses to them across Europe.
Abstract
The chapters are presented under three broad topics: "crime and insecurity," "the governance of crime and insecurity across Europe," and "the local governance of crime and insecurity." Chapters explore the sources of insecurity, alarm, and risk, both at transnational and local levels. The threats to security addressed in the chapters relate both to macro threats to the security of nation-states, as well as to numerous micro challenges to personal safety posed by many less precise threats. Some of the threats examined are transnational organized crime, trafficking in humans, migration, terrorism, interpersonal violence, antisocial behavior, and disorder. Various commentators associate the rise of new "insecurity" in Europe with a number of recent developments in late modernity, i.e., the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, globalization, the rearticulation and "hollowing out" of the modern state, and the growth of new forms of risk, particularly those inspired by technological advancements. Regarding the latter issue, a chapter explores the threats and the policing of the Internet. A number of chapters focus on the impact of the European Union on responses to both transnational and local threats to security. These chapters indicate that the general challenge facing European countries is to develop structures of cooperation that can address both transnational criminal enterprises and issues of personal safety in local communities. 6 figures, 4 tables, chapter notes and references, and a subject index