University of Alberta Securing the Olympic Games: Exemplifications of Developments in Urban Security Governance by Philip John Boyle A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology © Philip John Boyle Spring 2011 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. EXAMINING COMMITTEE Kevin Haggerty, Department of Sociology Rob Aitken, Department of Political Science Steven Penney, Faculty of Law David Whitson, Department of Political Science Dominique Clément, Department of Sociology External Reader: Jon Coaffee, University of Birmingham ABSTRACT The Olympic Games are now characterized by overt displays of military personnel and hardware, the deployment of new surveillance technologies and policing techniques, and rapidly escalating budgets. Yet, most research on security at these urban events has been confined to the sociology of sport or the applied profession of sport management. This dissertation contextualizes the Olympic Games within current debates about security in the post-9/11 environment, and asks what the Games reveal about developments in security, surveillance, and urban governance. At the same time I also ask how the Olympics reinforce and extend these developments in socio-cultural ways. These questions are pursued through four analyses of different aspects of the Games: practices of socio-spatial regulation in Olympic host cities, ideas of resiliency and preparedness in urban governance, the performative dimensions of precautionary governance, and the production and globalization of security expertise. I conclude by suggesting that the Olympics provide a window into future directions in urban security governance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my gratitude to my supervisor, Kevin Haggerty, who encouraged this project from the beginning, been enthusiastic throughout, and is a model for those entering the profession. Thank you to Rob Aitken and Steven Penney for providing comments on my dissertation at an early stage, and to David Whitson, Dominique Clément, and Jon Coaffee for their constructive criticism and debate during the final examination. I received generous financial support from Department of Sociology and Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Alberta and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. I have also benefited from the many dedicated and highly capable people that make the Department of Sociology run in the way it does. This research would not have been possible without this support. My family in Calgary – David and Christine Boyle and Cathy and Russ Tait – has always been supportive of education and career choices, and my extended Oliver family has always been enthusiastic throughout multiple pronouncements of ‘one more semester.’ Tonya Davidson has been a good friend since our first day as ‘buddies’ in the department and subsequent intersections in Ontario and elsewhere. Finally, my most heartfelt thanks go to Marcia, who has been with me every day of this process. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One Introduction ........................................................................................................................26 Vancouver, a city ‘beset by beggars and thieves’ ..................................................32 Governing disorder from a distance .......................................................................40 Tactics and authorities for governing disorder ......................................................44 Carrall Street Greenway .............................................................................47 Downtown Ambassadors ...........................................................................51 The Granville Entertainment District.........................................................55 Redefining success .................................................................................................61 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................63 Chapter Two Introduction ........................................................................................................................68 Surveillance assemblages.......................................................................................70 Meeting uncertainty with resiliency.......................................................................74 Resiliency in Vancouver ........................................................................................78 Visualizing cities ........................................................................................79 Planning for the worst ................................................................................83 Practical expertise ......................................................................................86 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................94 Chapter Three Introduction ........................................................................................................................99 Imagining an uncertain future ..............................................................................102 Precaution, premediation, and the Olympic Games .............................................105 Performing precaution .........................................................................................108 Managers of unease..................................................................................112 Demonstration projects ............................................................................117 Fantasy documents ...................................................................................120 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................123 Chapter Four Introduction ......................................................................................................................129 Olympic security networks ..................................................................................133 State institutional networks ......................................................................133 Learning from others................................................................................136 ‘Body shops in the brain business’ ..........................................................141 The Olympic security field ..................................................................................145 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................154 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................161 References ........................................................................................................................173 Appendix A SECURING THE OLYMPIC GAMES: EXEMPLIFICATIONS OF DEVELOPMENTS IN URBAN SECURITY GOVERNANCE Introduction The Olympic Games are political, national, and consumerist spectacles that have been critically examined from a wide variety of perspectives in relation to a wide variety of topics (recent and forthcoming overviews include Horne & Manzenreiter, 2006a; Lenskyj, 2010; Lenskyj & Waag, 2011). In the recent decade the Olympic Games have also become conspicuous security spectacles characterized by overt displays of military personnel and hardware, the deployment of sophisticated new surveillance technologies, and rapidly escalating budgets (Boyle & Haggerty, 2009a). Initiated by the siege and subsequent killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games and accelerated by the detonation of a pipe bomb at Atlanta’s Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics, the security apparatus that now encircles these events reached a categorically different level of intensity after September 11th 2001 to the extent that authorities and critics alike routinely describe the Games as the world’s largest peacetime security operations. September 11th (hereafter 9/11) did not cause this intensification so much as it acted as a tipping point for what was already being described as “the new terrorism” (Juergensmeyer, 2000) to describe the combination of religious and political extremism, unorthodox methods (including the potential for using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons), and penchant for theatricality that was coalescing around the Olympics and other high profile events. Further 1/194 reinforced by high profile attacks such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings