Making the Peace: Public Order and Public Security in Modern Britain - Hardcover

Townshend, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019822978X ISBN 13: 9780198229780

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1993

Synopsis

In recent years, such episodes as the death of Blair Peach, the Miners' Strike, the Scarman Report, and the Ponting and Stalker affairs have raised serious doubts as to whether the `British trick' of maintaing law and order by consensus is still feasible. Beginning with the Swing, Chartist, and Plug Riots, Charles Towshend shows how public order was steadily tightened during the Victorian era and how that process has continued throughout this century, thanks to such legislation as the Official Secrets, Public Order, Defence of the Realm, and Emergency Powers Acts.
This is a wide-ranging and readable historical analysis of the fundamental concepts on which the law-and-order debate rests. In addition to exploring the issues and events that have influenced mainland affairs, Professor Townshend also examines the Irish situation between the First Land Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and offers valuable insights into the periodic `crises of order' that seem to be threatening modern Britain.

About this title

About the Author

Formerly held Fellowships at the National Humanities Center, North Carolina, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, and former Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow

From the Back Cover

In recent years, such episodes as the death of Blair Peach, the Miners' Strike, the Scarman Report, and the Ponting and Stalker affairs have raised serious doubts whether the 'British way' of maintaining law and order by consensus is still feasible. Beginning with the Swing, Chartist, and Plug Riots, Charles Townshend shows how the definition of public order was steadily tightened during the Victorian era and how that process has continued throughout this century, thanks to such legislation as the Official Secrets, Public Order, and Emergency Powers Acts. This is a wide-ranging and readable historical analysis of the fundamental concepts on which the law-and-order debate rests. As well as exploring the issues and events that have influenced mainland affairs, Professor Townshend also examines the Irish situation between the nineteenth-century Land War and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He questions whether the periodic 'crises of order' that seem to be threatening modern Britain have eroded the flexibility of the unwritten constitution.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019822978X
• ISBN 13: 9780198229780
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274