Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:09:21.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A global trend toward law and order harshness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

Georg Wenzelburger
Georg Wenzelburger*
Affiliation:
FB Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft III, TU Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße, Kaiserslautern, Germany
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A popular claim made by criminologists argues that globalization has created a general punitive turn in Western industrialized countries and led to much harsher law and order policies. The present paper challenges this view and adds to the literature in two respects as follows: first, it presents empirical evidence that substantial differences in law and order policies remain between Western industrialized countries even when law and order policy is measured in a much more finely grained manner than previously. Second, the paper provides empirical evidence for a persisting influence of the partisan ideology of governments and the party system characteristics of a country on its law and order policies: whereas the general trend of increasing economic globalization may well set the overall tone, this impact is conditioned by national political and institutional settings – and the ideology of the government as well as the party system in particular.

Keywords

law and ordercomparative public policypartisan effectspunitive turn
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 589 - 613
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aas, K.F. (2013), Globalization & Crime, 2nd edn., London: Sage.Google Scholar
Adam, A., Kammas, P. and Lagou, A. (2013), ‘The effect of globalization on capital taxation: what have we learned after 20 years of empirical studies?’, Journal of Macroeconomics 35: 199–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, F. and McLeay, E. (2000), ‘How much change?: An analysis of the initial impact of proportional representation on the New Zealand parliamentary party system’, Party Politics 6(2): 131–154.Google Scholar
Bartlett, T. (2009), The Power of Penal Populism: Public Influences on Penal and Sentencing Policy in New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, Wellington: Victoria University, School of Social and Cultural Studies.Google Scholar
Bauman, Z. (1999), In Search of Politics, 1st edn., Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Beck, N. (2001), ‘Time-series-cross-section data: what have we learned in the past few years?’, Annual Review of Political Science 4: 271–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, N. and Katz, J. (1995), ‘What to do (and not to do) with time-series cross-section data’, American Political Science Review 89(3): 634–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, N. and Katz, J. (2011), ‘Modeling dynamics in time-series-cross-section political economy data’, Annual Review of Political Science 14: 331–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, U. (1986), Risikogesellschaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Beck, U. (2011), Weltrisikogesellschaft: auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Sicherheit, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Beck, U., Giddens, A. and Lash, S. (1994), Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition and Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order, 1st edn., Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Becker, G.S. (1976), The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckett, K. (1997a), Making Crime Pay, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Beckett, K. (1997b), ‘Political preoccupation with crime leads, not follows, public opinion’, Overcrowded Times 5: 8–11.Google Scholar
Blomquist, W. (1999), ‘The policy process and large-N comparative studies’, in P. Sabatier (ed.), Theories of the Policy Process, Boulder, CO: Westview, pp. 201–230.Google Scholar
Bottoms, A. (1995), ‘The philosophy and politics of punishment and sentencing’, in C. Clarkson and R. Morgan (eds), The Politics of Sentencing Reform, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 17–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brambor, T., Clark, W.R. and Golder, M. (2006), ‘Understanding interaction models: improving empirical analysis’, Political Analysis 14(1): 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castles, F.G. (ed.) (1982), The Impact of Parties: Politics and Policies in Democratic Capitalist States, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Cavadino, M. and Dignan, J. (2006), Penal Systems – A Comparative Approach, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Chiricos, T.G. and Delone, M.A. (1992), ‘Labor surplus and punishment: a review and assessment of theory and evidence’, Social Problems 39(4): 421–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Boef, S. and Keele, L. (2008), ‘Taking time seriously’, American Journal of Political Science 52(1): 184–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downes, D. (2011), ‘Comparative criminology, globalization and the “Punitive Turn”’, in D. Nelken (ed.), Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 27–47.Google Scholar
Downes, D. and Hansen, K. (2006), ‘Welfare and punishment in comparative perspective’, in S. Armstrong and L. McAra (eds), Perspectives on Punishment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 101–118.Google Scholar
Downes, D. and Morgan, R. (2007), ‘No turning back: the politics of law and order into the millennium’, in M. Maguire, R. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 201–240.Google Scholar
Dreher, A. (2006), ‘Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization’, Applied Economics 38(10): 1091–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epifanio, M. (2011), ‘Legislative response to international terrorism’, Journal of Peace Research 48(3): 399–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrall, S. and Jennings, W. (2012), ‘Policy feedback and the criminal justice agenda: an analysis of the economy, crime rates, politics and public opinion in post-war Britain’, Contemporary British History 26(4): 467–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garland, D. (2000), ‘The culture of high crime societies’, British Journal of Criminology 40: 347–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garland, D. (2001), The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, A. (1990), The Consequences of Modernity, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Golosov, G.V. (2011), ‘Party system classification: a methodological inquiry’, Party Politics 17(5): 539–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottfredson, M.R. and Hindelang, M.J. (1979), ‘A study of “The Behavior of Law”’, American Sociological Review 44(1): 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottschalk, M. (2008), ‘Hiding in plain sight: American politics and the carceral state’, Annual Review of Political Science 11(1): 235–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D.A. (2007), ‘Comparing penal cultures: child-on-child homicide in England and Norway’, in M. Tonry (ed.), Crime, Punishment, and Politics in Comparative Perspective, Chicago, IL and London: University of Chicago Press, pp. 591–643.Google Scholar
Häusermann, S., Picot, G. and Geering, D. (2013), ‘Rethinking party politics and the welfare state’, British Journal of Political Science 43(1): 221–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heichel, S., Knill, C. and Schmitt, S. (2013), ‘Public policy meets morality: conceptual and theoretical challenges in the analysis of morality policy change’, Journal of European Public Policy 20(3): 318–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofferbert, R.I. (1974), The Study of Public Policy, Indianapolis, IN and New York, NY: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Hope, T. and Sparks, R. (eds) (2000), Crime, Risk, and Insecurity. Law and Order in Everyday Life and Political Discourse, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Huber, G.A. and Gordon, S.C. (2004), ‘Accountability and coercion: is justice blind when it runs for office?’, American Journal of Political Science 48(2): 247–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immergut, E. (1990), ‘Institutions, veto points, and policy results: a comparative analysis of health care’, Journal of Public Policy 10(4): 391–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, D. and Helms, R. (2001), ‘Toward a political sociology of punishment: politics and changes in the incarcerated population’, Social Science Research 30(2): 171–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jahn, D. (2010), ‘The veto player approach in macro-comparative politics: concepts and measurement’, in T. König, G. Tsebelis and M. Debus (eds), Reform Processes and Policy Change. Veto Players and Decision-Making in Modern Democracies, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 43–68.Google Scholar
Kam, C.D. and Franzese, R.J. (2007), Modeling and Interpreting Interactive Hypotheses in Regression Analysis, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Klingemann, H.-D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I. and McDonald, M.D. (2006), Mapping Policy Preferences II. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments in Eastern Europe, European Union, and the OECD 1990–2003, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kury, H. and Ferdinand, T.N. (2011), ‘Punitivity. An introduction’, in H. Kury and T.N. Ferdinand (eds), International Perspectives on Punitivity, Bochum: Universitätsverlag Dr. Brockmeyer, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Lacey, N. (2008), The Prisoners’ Dilemma, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacey, N. (2010a), ‘Differentiating among penal states’, The British Journal of Sociology 61(4): 778–794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lacey, N. (2010b), ‘Système électoral et politiques criminelles: la dynamique de la représentation proportionelle face au système du “winner-takes-all”’, Jus Politicum 4: 1–24.Google Scholar
Lacey, N. (2011), ‘The prisoners’ dilemma and political systems: the impact of proportional representation on criminal justice in New Zealand’, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 42(4): 615–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacey, N. (2012), ‘Punishment in the perspective of comparative political economy’, Kriminologisches Journal 44(1): 9–31.Google Scholar
Lappi-Seppälä, T. (2014), ‘Imprisonment and penal demands’, in S. Body-Gendrot, et al. (eds), The Routledge Handbook of European Criminology, London and New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 295–336.Google Scholar
Laver, M. and Hunt, B. (1992), Policy and Party Competition, New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Levitt, S.D. (2002), ‘Using electoral cycles in police hiring to estimate the effects of police on crime: reply’, The American Economic Review 92(4): 1244–1250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, R. (2005), ‘The myth of punitiveness’, Theoretical Criminology 9(2): 175–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medina-Ariza, J. (2006), ‘Politics of crime in Spain, 1978–2004’, Punishment & Society 8(2): 183–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, L. (2008), The Perils of Federalism. Race, Poverty, and the Politics of Crime Control, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, R. (2006), ‘With respect to order, the rules of the game have changed: new labour’s dominance of the “Law and Order” agenda’, in T. Newburn and R. Morgan (eds), The Politics of Crime Control. Essays in Honour of David Downes, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 91–115.Google Scholar
Muncie, J. (2011), ‘On globalisation and exceptionalism’, in D. Nelken (ed.), Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 87–105.Google Scholar
Newburn, T. (2006), ‘Contrasts in intolerance: cultures of control in the United States and Britain’, in T. Newburn and R. Morgan (eds), The Politics of Crime Control: Essays in Honour of David Downes, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 227–270.Google Scholar
Newburn, T. (2007), ‘“Tough on Crime”: penal policy in England and Wales’, Crime and Justice 36(1): 425–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, P. (2007), ‘Expenditure on public order and safety’, in F.G. Castles (ed.), The Disappearing State, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 133–158.Google Scholar
Norris, P. (2009), ‘Families of nations, victimisation and attitudes towards criminal justice’, International Review of Victimology 16(3): 229–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pappi, F.U. and Shikano, S. (2004), ‘Ideologische Signale in den Wahlprogrammen der deutschen Bundestagsparteien 1980–2002’. Working Paper No. 2994 (76), Mannheim: MZES.Google Scholar
Pease, K. (1994), ‘Cross-national imprisonment rates: limitations of method and possible conclusions’, British Journal of Criminology 34(5): 116–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plümper, T., Troeger, V. and Manow, P. (2005), ‘Panel data analysis in comparative politics: linking method to theory’, European Journal of Political Research 44(2): 327–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, J. (2007), Penal Populism, Milton Park/New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, J. and Clark, M. (2005), ‘Penal populism in New Zealand’, Punishment & Society 7(3): 303–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ragin, C.C. (2008), Redesigning Social Inquiry. Fuzzy Sets and Beyond, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, J.V., Stalans, L.J., Indermaur, D. and Hough, M. (2003), Penal Populism and Public Opinion, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rusche, G. and Kirchheimer, O. (1968), Punishment and Social Structure, New York, NY: Russell & Russell.Google Scholar
Sabatier, P.A. (1991), ‘Toward better theories of the policy process’, PS: Political Science and Politics 24(2): 147–156.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, J.J. (2011), ‘Globalization and states of punishment’, in D. Nelken (ed.), Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 69–86.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M.G. (1996), ‘When parties matter: a review of the possibilities and limits of partisan influence on public policy’, European Journal of Political Research 30(2): 155–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, C.Q. and Wagemann, C. (2012), Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seeberg, H.B. (2013), ‘The opposition’s policy influence through issue politicisation’, Journal of Public Policy 33(1): 89–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. (2007), Governing Through Crime, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singelnstein, T. and Stolle, P. (2012), Die Sicherheitsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strange, S. (1995), ‘The limits of politics’, Government and Opposition 30(3): 291–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, J.R. (2004), ‘The political economy of imprisonment in affluent western democracies, 1960–1990’, American Sociological Review 69(2): 170–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tepe, M. and Vanhuysse, P. (2013), ‘Cops for hire? The political economy of police employment in the German states’, Journal of Public Policy 33(2): 165–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonry, M. (2007), Crime, Punishment, and Politics in Comparative Perspective, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tsebelis, G. (1995), ‘Decision making in political systems: veto players in presidentialism, parliamentarism, multicameralism, and multipartyism’, British Journal of Political Science 25(3): 289–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacquant, L. (2001), ‘The penalisation of poverty and the rise of neo-liberalism’, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 9(4): 401–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacquant, L. (2009), Punishing the Poor. The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity, Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Wacquant, L. (2010), ‘Crafting the neoliberal state: workfare, prisonfare, and social insecurity’, Sociological Forum 25(2): 197–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzelburger, G. (2014), ‘Parties, institutions and the politics of law and order’, British Journal of Political Science, doi: 10.1017/S0007123413000501.Google Scholar
Western, B. (2006), Punishment and Inequality in America, New York, NY: Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Western, B. and Pettit, B. (2010), ‘Incarceration & social inequality’, Daedalus 139(3): 8–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zedner, L. (2003), ‘Too much security?’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law 31(3): 155–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zedner, L. (2009), Security, London and New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zohlnhöfer, R. (2009), ‘How politics matter when policies change: understanding policy change as a political problem’, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 11(1): 97–115.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wenzelburger supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Wenzelburger supplementary material(File)
File 156.1 KB