Community Centers, Cops, and Councils: A Neighborhood Study of Riots in England

• In Event: Geography of Discontent

Abstract

In August of 2011, a wave of rioting, looting, arson, and mass police deployments spread through towns and cities across England. These so-called London Riots sent shockwaves through the country and brought the challenges of minority politics, race and inequality to the forefront of national and local policy-making debates. But what sparked this wave of rioting in the first place, and why did they spread to some ethnically diverse and disadvantaged cities, but not to others? Using extensive participant interviews, observation data, and archival material collected from fieldwork in 4 London boroughs with high levels of diversity and inequality, yet different rioting experiences – Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Ealing - this research analysis examines the neighborhood-level determinants of rioting outbreak and diffusion. This paper looks beyond patterns of socio-economic inequality, cultural variables or minority integration frameworks, and instead develops a novel neighborhood-centered approach, at the core of which is the level of legitimacy local community-leaders have with their members on the one hand, and the local Council and police force on the other hand. According to my empirical analysis, I find that the overall nature of community-leader legitimacy on both fronts determines the types of tools local authorities will have available to face the threat of rioting a priori - repression, mediation, or both – and ultimately the likelihood and intensity of rioting. This paper also discusses the historical and political roots of differential levels of community-leader legitimacy.

Author

• Amanda Garrett, Georgetown University Qatar