Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 11 Jan 2008
Forestalling Violence: Police Knowledge of Interaction with Political Activists
Forestalling Violence: Police Knowledge of Interaction with Political Activists
Page Range: 389 – 402
This article explores the reflexive processes among police during a transitional period following a large and traumatic protest event in Sweden, the 2001 European Union summit in Göteborg. The discussion revolves around transformations of the Swedish approach to protest policing and the subsequent attempt to revise "police knowledge" in relation to protest policing. Police constructions of external reality are analyzed with reference to two organizing concepts: provocation and dialogue. Particular attention is paid to attempts by the police to increase their awareness of "counterpart perspectives," and the concomitant use of stereotypes of protesters to maintain police officers' own reality constructions. Perceptions of negotiation with protesters are located in a tension between the poles: dialogue and control. Furthermore, it is argued that the policing philosophy of the Swedish police force has developed from a predominantly reactive approach into one most aptly described as "proactive management" of protest.
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