1st Edition
Governance of Security and Ignored Insecurities in Contemporary Europe
This book explores changes in security governance in Europe from the 1990s, focusing on some of the most important consequences: the proliferation of ignored insecurities, including the increase of oncological diseases, environmental disasters, shadow economies reproducing neo-slavery and fiscal fraud, and the general damage to the res publica. What is the articulation of removal, reclamation and consequently the implementation of devices and the establishing of prevention practices? Why are the majority of victims and also the control agency professionals seemingly resigned to these ignored insecurities? Following more than 20 years of research in the area, the authors examine these questions and how the securitisation of society has been exacerbated. They argue that the primary cause of the increase in ignored insecurities is the consequence of the neoliberal turn in security governance. This book proposes an innovative approach to security governance, not only through a serious analysis of the balance of the costs and benefits, but also highlighting what is here termed `ignored insecurities'. The authors propose a review of the problems, showing that the governance of security is a crucial element of the contemporary political organisation of society. The book ends with an innovative reflection on the Anthropocene debate and the COP21 summit which took place in Paris in December 2015.
Preface; Introduction, Salvatore Palidda. Part I The Change of Security Governance since 1990: The rise of postmodern security governance and the proliferation of ignored insecurities and their victims, Salvatore Palidda; Ignored securities? On the diversity of securities and a proposal for their integration, Harald Arnold and Rita Haverkamp; The governance of crime in the risk society. From ‘designing out crime’ to ‘built-in resilience’?, Tim Lukas; Resilience discourses and ignored insecurities: the neoliberal myth of self-contained individualism, Monica Colombo and Luigi Ferrari. Part II Specific Aspects in Security and Insecurities Governance: Neoliberal decriminalization of business law: the French case study and similarities with other democratic countries, Mikael Kazgandjian; The governance of urban security, ignored insecurities and the securitization of urban space (Milan’s case study), Fabio Quassoli and Monica Colombo; The choices of the court with respect to which crimes to pursue. A case study, Cecilia Blengino and Giovanni Torrente; Who is afraid of whom? Turning security threats upside-down in the governance of Roma people in today’s Italy, Barbara Giovanna Bello; Refugees: stranded between the priorities of European security, Susanne Knickmeier. Part III Aporias or Bad Governance of the Disasters in XXI Century: Industrial disasters: the Italian case, Pietro Saitta; The use of natural disasters to turn the rule of law into corrupt governance favoring private companies, Antonello Petrillo. Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Salvatore Palidda, PHD of Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales of Paris, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Genoa, Italy. He is the author of many publications on police and military affairs, migrations and racial criminalisation, and since 1995 has directed an Italian team in a number of European projects related to the themes explored in this book.
˜This impressive collection shows the limits of what governments refer to as "security". Much is left out of this governmental notion. And what it leaves out seems to have expanded as the significance of the term has grown. A must read.
Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, USA, and author of Expulsions
‘This most welcomed volume brings fresh empirical, legal and analytic perspectives to the well-worn, and often obfuscated, issues of European security governance. Case studies spanning several decades document rarely treated "insecurities" involving disease, refugees, migrants and environmental despoliation that are ignored or made worse by current approaches to the "securitization of society". With intelligence and passion the book argues for a broadly defined human security rather than a more narrowly defined national security. It forces us to ask "security for whom? And at what costs and risks for those least privileged, as well as for the future of all persons?’
Gary T. Marx, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and author of Windows Into the Soul: Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology
