The Politics of Private Security

This is the first in-depth conceptual and empirical analysis of the political issues, processes and themes associated with private security provision and its growth in the postwar era, examining why private security has become so prominent, what its relationship to the state is and how it can be controlled.

Shortlisted for the British Society of Criminology Book Prize 2011

'White should be congratulated on producing a fine book. It is meticulously researched, conceptually sophisticated, and crisply written. He has opened a rich field of enquiry that offers much promise to policy-makers and academics alike who wish to understand the ways in which politics and economics, state and market, have enfolded each other in mutually beneficial ways to structure the contemporary landscape of security provision.'

- Stuart Lister, University of Leeds, UK, Policing

'The Politics of Private Security is a rich and well-argued account of the 'deeply political' processes that shape the contours and dynamics of the private security industry. The political economy approach White develops sheds genuinely new light upon the contemporary history of private security in Britain and he outlines in conclusion how this approach may guide future research in other jurisdictions.'

- Professor Ian Loader, University of Oxford, UK, Criminology and Criminal Justice

'The Politics of Private Security is a well-argued, finely detailed and fascinating historical account that will be of great interest to policing and socio-legal students and academics. The quality of future scholarly research on security politics, regardless of perspective, undoubtedly will have to be measured against it.'

- Dr Randy Lippert, University of Windsor, UK, British Journal of Criminology

'Of the hundreds of books I have reviewed in a decade or more, Adam White's book The Politics of Private Security is the most significant [...] it deserves to be quoted for many years. By putting private security on the map, White has put himself on the map.'

- Mark Rowe, Editor, Professional Security

'This is an exceedingly well-researched and clearly written historical account. By attending to the politics of state regulation in one country, it makes a major contribution to the private security literature.'

- The British Journal of Criminology

'The political economy approach White develops sheds genuinely new light upon the contemporary history of private security in Britain'

- Criminology & Criminal Justice

ADAM WHITE is Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of York, UK. His research focuses on the governance of security, public policy and the changing nature of the state.