Palgrave Dictionary of Public Order Policing, Protest and Political Violence

The title of this book helpfully encapsulates its content and function in all but one respect. Political protest and violence is most definitely its core concern. As the Preface puts it somewhat more expansively, “(T)his book … considers the nature of political violence, the groups and organisations that are engaged in activities of this nature, and discusses the response of the state and police to such events” (p. xi). “Considering” complex matters such as this can hardly be achieved through brief dictionary-type entries, however, and this is not what this book provides. Instead it offers quite substantial mini-essays arranged in...