Security, Sovereignty, and Non-State Governance “From Below”

Abstract

IntroductionCommentators have charted new pluralistic modes of governance beyond the State in the advanced liberal democracies, viewing them as produced and reproduced through cultural and political relations. 1 These include new rationalities of rule and the cultural background, processes of institution and nation building that underpin these rationalities. 2 This fluid picture of new forms of governance can appear chaotic but governance theorists have attempted to link the fragments within broader conceptions of governanceconceived as the attempts to shape human conduct-operating in mutually inter-penetrating ways at every level. These range from self/bodily governance all the way through to the operation of global institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations. 3

Plural policing and the challenge of democratic accountability

“…Over the same period we have also seen further 'pluralization below the state' in the form of order-definition and maintenance, rule-making and regulation exercised by noncommercial, community and voluntary organizations (Lea and Stenson, 2007). Part of this has arisen from new developments in the 'responsibilization' of non-state organizations to take control of their own security, and the spreading language of partnership, co-production and community self-governance (Garland, 2001;Wood and Shearing, 2007).…”

The Power of The Locality: Does Plural Policing Really Exist in Belgium?

“…Romenia illustrates a vast divergence in private (strong representation) and public (very limited) capacity per inhabitants. When we discuss competences appointed to private security guards (fields of action) in Belgium, only limited competences are granted to them by Law 10 . Surveillance in public space is only permitted for goods, surveillance on citizens being reserved to public agents.…”

“…In 2011 Belgium calculated 220 licensed private surveillance companies and 15411 private security officers (Coess, 2011). 10 Act concerning surveillance enterprises, security firms and internal surveillance services, B.S. April owned buildings, like shopping malls and banks.…”

“…The evolution towards 'plural policing' or 'pluralization' of governance of order and security, emerging from the latter part of the 20th Century onwards, is frequently analysed by AngloSaxon scholars [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Multiple models of partnerships unite police with a range of private security, government agencies, organized groups, neighborhood watch groups and citizens [14].…”

Multi-centred governance and circuits of power in liberal modes of security

“…Criminological work has begun to address this through reference to strategies for 'governing from below' adopted by, for example, paramilitaries, serious crime networks and vigilantes. 41 Another frontier is the consideration of 'power and resistance 2.0ʹ or the disruptive implications for security strategies of digital technologies, deployed through the 'interactive' second generation of the World Wide Web. To this end, there is a need for a framework for understanding relations of power and resistance amongst multiple centres of security.…”