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THE PETER AND KATHERINE TOMASSI ESSAY to construct a riot: interpretations and consequences of the 2011 english riots simone zhang, harvard university (2012) ABSTRACT Over the course of fve days in August 2011, destructive riots spread throughout England. Tis paper examines the political consequences of these riots. It investigates how the ri- ots opened up a space for political debate and action, exploring how actors in journalism, research, and policymaking interacted to construct the meaning of the public disruption and direct the government’s response. It fnds that a dominant frame emerged early in the debate, constructing the rioters and the community in opposition and establishing the riots as apolitical. In this context, politicians were able to defne the riots in terms of two crises: a crisis of public order and a crisis of social breakdown. Tese early framing activities shaped subsequent research on the causes of the riots and enabled politicians to use the events to ad- vance policy issues of interest to them. Tis paper suggests that governments do not respond mechanistically to public disruptions. Instead, governments participate actively in a mean- ing making process and the outcome of this process helps steer the course of political action. n August 4, 2011, Mark Duggan, a twenty- ple have been charged in connection to the riots, with nine-year-old black father of four, was shot over 2,000 found guilty.2 and killed by police in Tottenham, north Te riots necessitated a political response, but OLondon. Duggan died near the Broadwater Farm what form that response should take was not immedi- Estate, the public housing development that was his ately obvious. To sell and pursue a convincing course childhood home. In 1985, when Duggan was a child, of action, political actors needed to identify the na- Broadwater Farm had gained notoriety as the site of ture of the event and ofer a compelling diagnosis of riots fueled by resident antagonisms toward the po- its causes. Yet riots are ambiguous and defy easy ex- lice. Afer his death, Broadwater Farm served as a planation. Rioters do not hold up signs detailing their gathering spot for Duggan’s neighbors and loved ones, motives, nor do they risk arrest to speak up afer the who marched to the local police station demanding event. Spontaneous and lacking formal organization, answers. Te crowd outside the Tottenham police riots are typically not represented by organizations station waited for a satisfactory response for several that continue to exist afer they end. hours before violence broke out, triggering a chain of Because of this ambiguity, riots serve as strong events that led to images of England burning being cases to study how political actors behave when a transmitted around the globe. space for contention opens, and how they can lever- Between August 6 and 10, 2011, England expe- age events to secure desired objectives. Te dynamics rienced its worst rioting in recent history. Violence of early political discourse can constrain later debates outside the Tottenham police station grew into wide- and infuence what policy issues become more salient spread unrest in London and across England in cities afer a major shock to the political system. Riots of- like Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, and Liv- fer a chance to study how some voices are enabled to erpool. Te scale of violence and destruction was mas- steer political conversation, while others are preclud- sive; the total cost of the riots was ofcially estimated ed from participating. to exceed 500 million pounds.1 Five people lost their Te 2011 English riots ofer an especially favor- lives, hundreds were injured, and numerous homes able opportunity to pursue these goals because they and businesses were destroyed. More than 3,000 peo- were particularly tricky for political actors to inter- to construct a riot: interpretations and consequences of the 2011 english riots pret. Literature on the political consequences of riots Two aspects of Cameron’s vision for social policy has been largely based on U.S. urban riots in the 1960s refect this shif. One aspect was the Broken Britain and 1970s. While not planned or guided by civil rights thesis, which claimed that British society was decay- groups during the Civil Rights Movement, those riots ing, harming citizens and endangering young people. were used rhetorically by those groups and considered Tis view marked a step away from the individual- a form of protest within the African-American com- istic explanations for bad behavior and the punitive munity.3 Te 2011 English riots, by contrast, did not stance traditionally associated with the Conservatives. appear connected to any larger social movement. Tey It drew from the work of the Centre for Social Justice, took place in poor and middle class neighborhoods a think tank that presented a narrative of a broken so- alike, and drew participants of all races.4 Te rioters ciety involving multiple pathways to poverty: family did not constitute a defned group and no movement breakdown, educational failure, worklessness and eco- appropriated the riots afer the fact.5 Consequently, nomic dependence, addictions, and indebtedness. 10 there was no clear authority fgure available to explain A second central concept that undergirded Cameron’s the events. Te riots thus opened a wide space for de- social policy was the “Big Society,” the fagship policy bate, allowing people uninvolved with the action to idea of the 2010 Conservative Party Election Mani- construct their meaning and direct their impact. festo.11 Big Society set out a vision for a smaller state Without an easily evident course of action, how supported by greater civil society engagement. Under do governments respond to instances of public unrest? Big Society, government would give power back to Scholarship in the social sciences has been focused on communities to make decisions and achieve shared identifying the causes of riots, but relatively little work goals. By promoting volunteerism and entrepreneur- has studied their political consequences.6 Tis paper ship, Big Society would help reinstate a culture of re- builds on existing theories that posit causal relation- sponsibility. ships between riots and political outcomes. It begins to unpack the mechanisms behind these relationships PERSPECTIVES LINKING RIOTS by examining how the process of interpreting the riots TO POLITICAL OUTCOMES mediated between the event and its consequences. To Literature connecting riots and political out- do this, it investigates the roles of politicians, the news comes can be sorted into two main perspectives. Te media, and researchers in shaping the discourse on frst perspective conceives of riots as a form of protest, the riots, flling a gap in research on the 2011 English with most work motivated by an interest in assess- riots.7 Tis paper focuses on the fve months between ing how efective riots are for achieving the political August and December 2011. Te concepts of frames aims of rioters. Scholars have typically assigned state and framing processes guide the analysis of primary responses to riots into one of two categories: concilia- documents and interviews with actors in politics, pol- tory actions to appease rioters and repressive actions icymaking, journalism, and research. to quell unrest through coercion.12 Imputing political goals to rioters, these scholars consider conciliatory POLITICAL CONTEXT action a success and repressive action a failure. Te In 2011, the United Kingdom was governed second perspective connecting riots to political con- by a coalition between the Conservative Party, un- sequences considers the role of disruption in generat- der Prime Minister David Cameron, and the Liberal ing a perceived crisis that opens a window for political Democrats, under Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. actors to advance reforms.13 Te Labour Party formed the Ofcial Opposition. Prior to the 2010 election, the Conservative Party had The Protest Perspective sufered three successive general election defeats to Under the protest perspective, Cloward and Piv- Labour. Tese losses led the Conservatives to realize en have advanced a theory identifying the conditions they needed to move past Margaret Tatcher’s legacy under which governments are more likely to respond on conservatism.8 Seeking to shed their image as “the to public disruption with conciliatory or repressive nasty party,” 9 the Conservatives moved toward a new action.14 Cloward and Piven conceive of public dis- “compassionate conservatism,” combining a commit- ruption as the withdrawal of a contribution to critical ment to a strong economy with an interest in social inclusion. institutions. For Cloward and Piven, riots are a last- 7 columbia university journal of politics & society resort tactic for marginalized groups. Because mar- theoretically possible to determine what actions truly ginalized groups are ofen excluded from mainstream count as conciliatory. In the case of the 2011 English institutions, the only contribution to society they can riots, the very existence of political grievances was a withhold is their “quiescence in civil life.”15 point of contention. Te U.S. riots of the 1960s and When choosing between courses of action to 1970s may be considered a special case, in which cer- respond to public disruption, governments face dif- tain actors were especially well positioned to lay claims ferent risks and costs. Employing solely repressive, co- to the existence and substance of political grievance, ercive action is an option during periods of electoral so much so that social scientists took their claims as stability, but it is difcult for governments to predict assumptions in their analyses. whether such action may agitate outside groups. Un- Arriving at a more generalizable understanding less political actors can cast rioters as outsiders and of how riots exert infuence requires moving past the mobilize popular hatred against them, political actors notion that riots embody political goals against which face uncertain repercussions for the use of force.