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This article formulates a theoretical framework that helps to explain the origins of prison riots. Our explanation builds on existing theories, taking the integrative theory outlined by Useem and Kimball (1989) as a starting point. It shows how a variety of causal factors interact to create an institutional environment in which routine incidents can develop into full-fledged riots. We illustrate our framework with an analysis of the Strangeways prison riot in Manchester, UK (1990).

The past century of research has identified a host of economic, political, demographic, & other factors that seem to be associated with the prevalence of riots. The study of riots has, however, probably focused too much on these "push" factors that lead to violence & not enough on understanding the response of the state to riots. Understanding the political incentives that motivate democratic & authoritarian states to sometimes allow riots to take place & at other times to take the strongest possible law-&-order measures to prevent them is key to understanding variation in violence. Scholars also need to pay more attention to the psychological factors that encourage people to riot, & to the micro-logic of target choice within these larger events. Adapted from the source document.

The past century of research has identified a host of economic, political, demographic, and other factors that seem to be associated with the prevalence of riots. The study of riots has, however, probably focused too much on these "push" factors that lead to violence and not enough on understanding the response of the state to riots. Understanding the political incentives that motivate democratic and authoritarian states to sometimes allow riots to take place and at other times to take the strongest possible law-and-order measures to prevent them is key to understanding variation in violence. Scholars also need to pay more attention to the psychological factors that encourage people to riot, and to the micro-logic of target choice within these larger events.

AbstractAbstract: This article considers the political reaction and policy response to the 2011 England riots. Drawing on the framework of John Kingdon's (1995) multiple streams approach (MSA) the analysis in this article starts with the 'policy window' caused by the focusing event of the riots, and traces the ways in which this was used to frame different kinds of policy 'problem', rather than the more typical method of using the MSA to help explain the emergence and development of a particular policy. It then examines how different policy 'solutions' became attached to these problems with varying degrees of impact. In fact, more than anything, we argue that the framing of the riots served to close down many avenues for policy development, with the outcome that those that were initiated in the aftermath of the disorder were both limited and short‐lived, with some having only the most tangential links with the riots.

This article analyses the mass media's claims about the role of social media in the 2011 UK riots and the Arab Spring, arguing that social media has become a new fetishism of technology that distracts from the contradictions of capitalism underlying contemporary societal changes and conflicts. Understanding contemporary capitalism, its contradictions and the role of the media requires a dialectical and critical analysis.

Racist violence that occurred in Liverpool in 1919 is analyzed in this article, & it is argued that three main themes can be identified in media, policing, & political debates that followed. These are fears of sexual relations between different "races," competition for employment, & questions relating to citizenship occasioned by a scheme of assisted repatriation introduced to remove black migrant workers from the "mother country." The article argues that the issue of "racial" difference between the communities involved in the disorders should not be treated as a straightforward variable in its own right. Instead recognition of the articulation between racialized discourse & other factors, such as sexual relations, is central to a full understanding of the events. Adapted from the source document.

Although social scientists have sought to understand riots in terms of social structure, few causal explanations have withstood the tests of ongoing empirical examination. In America, presidential commissions sought to put the black urban riots of the mid‐sixties in a similar context. Despite the laudable attempts at deriving benign policy implications from such explanations, the commissions' explanations were no better than the social science of the time. Understanding the causal basis of riots has been elusive, but our understanding of riots as problems of crisis management has been far more reachable. A comparison of two Los Angeles riots, Watts 1965, and the Rodney King riots of 1992, shows that the intensity, spread and duration of the riots were a function of crisis paralysis. We might not know, in any scientific sense, what causes riots but we appear to know a great deal about the consequences of not appropriately preparing for or managing riots. These are the lessons of both Los Angeles riots.

This paper takes up Avtar Brah's (1999) invitation to write back to the issues she raises in her mapping of the production of gendered, classed and racialised subjectivities in west London. It addresses two topics that, together, illuminate racialised and gendered interpellation and psychosocial processes. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first draws on empirical research on the transition to motherhood conducted in east London to consider one mother's experience of giving birth in the local maternity hospital. The maternity ward constituted a site where racialised difference became salient, leading her to construct her maternal identity by asserting her difference from Bangladeshi mothers and so self-racialising, as well as 'othering' Bangladeshi mothers. The paper analyses the ways in which her biography may help to explain why her experience of the maternity hospital interpellates her into racialised positioning. The second section focuses on media responses to the riots in various English cities in August 2011. It examines the ways in which some media punditry racialised the riots and inclusion in the British postcolonial nation. The paper analyses three sets of commentaries and illuminates the ways in which they racialise the debate in essentialising ways, reproducing themes that were identified in the 1980s as 'new racism' and apportioning blame for the riots to 'black gangster culture'. While these media pronouncements focus on racialisation, they are intersectional in implicitly also invoking gender and social class. The paper argues that the understanding of the mother's self-racialisation is deepened by a consideration of the racialised discourses that can be evoked (and are contested) in periods of social unrest. The paper thus draws on part of the methodology of 'The Scent of Memory' in layering media readings and biographical narratives to analyse the contemporary psychosocial space of racialisation.

The difficulty of satisfying competing needs of both national and sub-national officials and commanders for intelligence support capabilities that are too sensitive and expensive to duplicate for both sets of requirements emerged with the growth of industrial-scale imagery and signals intelligence assets and production during the Cold War. The literature of intelligence history and intelligence studies covers the symptoms of this problem, but says less a rigorous and well-documented nature on its causes. Thanks to recent declassifications in the United States, however, we can now read key documents in an American attempt to understand and deal with the dilemma. A study prepared for President Richard Nixon in 1971 and now dubbed the 'Schlesinger Report' has been published virtually intact by the US Department of State. In addition, the Central Intelligence Agency has released two official histories which indirectly have added significant detail to the story. With these new releases, it is now possible to explain the genesis of the Report and chart its effects through the remainder of President Nixon's presidency. The Schlesinger Report marked a watershed for the intelligence community, helping the Nixon Administration to conceive and enact reforms that were both consequential in themselves and presaged the findings of later surveys and inquiries. A better understanding of the Report's background, text, and results can shed light not only the policymaking process in the Nixon Administration but also the trajectory of the intelligence community-and of foreign intelligence establishments that may, in some respects, be following in its path. Adapted from the source document.

This article argues that though communal riots bring different experiences for men and women, yet this reality does not seem to be recognized by post-riot justice mechanisms. Justice post-riots is viewed as a 'blanket' term for all the victims irrespective of their gender. In so doing, women's everyday experiences seem to get pushed under the carpet. Drawing from feminist critique of the legalistic approach to justice, this article problematizes the understanding that there is only one singular, official version of truth in post-riot situations. The article critically examines post-riot judicial commissions that were constituted to inquire into the Mumbai (1992–1993) and Gujarat (2002) riots from a feminist perspective. I argue that the judicial inquiry commissions in their current format are underequipped to deal with gender concerns that emerge after communal riots. And that there is a need for feminist security studies to venture into critically analyzing judicial inquiry commissions.

How does food access affect the mobilization of collective violence? The upsurge in rioting in 2008 drew broad attention to the relationship of food and conflict, as scholars and policymakers sought to understand the mobilization and variation of rioting events. Studies have shown a robust relationship between conflict and food prices, noting an increase in incidents of violent conflict during times of high global prices. This study furthers the theory on the role of food access in riot mobilization, investigating the mechanisms by which changes in food access translate into collective violence. Using detailed, first-hand accounts of rioting in 2007 and 2008, this study investigates the motives and grievances of the community members where riots occurred and the relationship of those grievances to food access, while contrasting these accounts to communities that did not engage in rioting. In the cases presented, a change in food access motivated protest and violence involving existing grievances rather than explicitly addressing food access. In this way, food changed the meaning and severity of existing grievances. The cases studied add to our understanding of concurrent upsurges in food riots by outlining the ways that food access interacts with local contexts to initiate violent conflict, stressing the presence of existing actors who use decreased food access to mobilize resources to address existing grievances. While media accounts highlighted food access as the primary concern of food rioters, this study argues that many 'food riots' were not, in fact, directly motivated by food access. Rather, changes to food access can aid in mobilizing protests around a range of grievances, some unrelated to food access. Efforts to address the causes of food-related instability will be unsuccessful if they focus solely on food access without addressing the primary motivating grievance and understanding how food access relates to that grievance.

How does food access affect the mobilization of collective violence? The upsurge in rioting in 2008 drew broad attention to the relationship of food and conflict, as scholars and policymakers sought to understand the mobilization and variation of rioting events. Studies have shown a robust relationship between conflict and food prices, noting an increase in incidents of violent conflict during times of high global prices. This study furthers the theory on the role of food access in riot mobilization, investigating the mechanisms by which changes in food access translate into collective violence. Using detailed, first-hand accounts of rioting in 2007 and 2008, this study investigates the motives and grievances of the community members where riots occurred and the relationship of those grievances to food access, while contrasting these accounts to communities that did not engage in rioting. In the cases presented, a change in food access motivated protest and violence involving existing grievances rather than explicitly addressing food access. In this way, food changed the meaning and severity of existing grievances. The cases studied add to our understanding of concurrent upsurges in food riots by outlining the ways that food access interacts with local contexts to initiate violent conflict, stressing the presence of existing actors who use decreased food access to mobilize resources to address existing grievances. While media accounts highlighted food access as the primary concern of food rioters, this study argues that many 'food riots' were not, in fact, directly motivated by food access. Rather, changes to food access can aid in mobilizing protests around a range of grievances, some unrelated to food access. Efforts to address the causes of food-related instability will be unsuccessful if they focus solely on food access without addressing the primary motivating grievance and understanding how food access relates to that grievance.