Patterns of Provocation

Book excerpt: Seven studies that emerged from discussions and seminars at the European Centre for the Study of Policing at the Open University. Social scientists and other scholars--most from Britain, but also elsewhere in Europe and the US--probe in depth a number of incidents of public disorder, focusing on the role of the police. They identify general patterns of police provocation and public responses, and suggest general hypotheses. The cases range across Europe and the US and the interwar and postwar years, though the recent protests against global organizations are not among them. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR