Democracy, Society and the Governance of Security

Jennifer Wood · Benoît Dupont

Feb 2006 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

The promotion of security is no longer a state monopoly. It is dispersed and takes place through the practices of states, corporations, non-governmental actors and community-based organizations. But what do we know about the ways in which 'security' is thought about and promoted in this pluralized field of delivery? Are democratic values being advanced and protected, or threatened and compromised? Wood and Dupont bring together a team of renowned scholars to shed light on our understanding of the arrangements for contemporary security governance. Offering a 'friendly dialogue' between those who argue that democratic transformation rests in the development of strong state institutions and those who propose a more de-centered agenda, the scholars in this volume bring cutting-edge theoretical analyses to bear on empirical examples. This volume will appeal to researchers in the fields of criminology, political science, sociology and security studies.

About the author

Jennifer Wood is a Research Fellow at Security 21: International Centre for Security and Justice within the Regulatory Institutions Network, Australian National University. She also functions as the Canadian Coordinator of the Project for Safe and Just Communities in Argentina.

Benoît Dupont is Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Université de Montréal, Quebec. He is the author of Construction et Réforme d'une Police: Le Cas Australien (2003) and co-editor, with Mike Enders, of Policing the Lucky Country (2001).