Vigilant Citizens

Book excerpt: The book explores the 'frontier' conditions in which vigilantism emerges as a solution, full of ambiguities, to problems of perceived disorder which official instruments of law and order do not handle to the vigilante's satisfaction. Contemporary and historical case material from Africa, North and South America, the Philippines, Europe and Britain is examined within an analytic and comparative framework, as are the often fuzzy boundaries between vigilantism and other forms of 'informal sector' activity, such as state death squads, mafia and banditry. This book will be of value to undergraduates and graduates in anthropology, political sociology, criminology and history.