State Crime and Immorality

The Corrupting Influence of the Powerful

Monaghan, Mark, Prideaux, Simon

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2016
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781447316763
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

This is the first book to examine the activities of UK and international 'role models' through the lens of state crime and social policy. Written by experts in the field of sociology and social policy, it defines the ideal state as a single, functioning whole that ensures uniformity in the name of legitimacy. It then details the ways that states do not constitute the ideal in terms of the dangers associated with the maintenance of legitimacy and state power. Anti-democratic measures, such as the invasions of other nation states, the idea that the media can both reinforce and influence the state and the problems of over-zealous policing of a state's own populace, are covered. Using the topical example of Rupert Murdoch and the activities of his media organisation to show how powerful individuals and corporations can and do exert political influence, the book provides a comprehensive discussion of state immorality and deviance generally and state crime in particular. It will appeal to range of academics and practitioners in broader disciplines such as criminology, sociology, politics and political science.

Table of contents

• STATE CRIME AND IMMORALITY
• Contents
• List of tables
• About the authors
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Defining the state and its institutions, allies and protagonists
• 3. The state, corporations and organised crime
• 4. Drugs and thugs: examples of organised crime, state collusion and limited responses
• 5. The media as both an influential and a supportive arm of the state
• 6. Beyond the borders: state terrorism from without and against the ‘other’
• 7. Without and within: state crime in Northern Ireland (violence, collusion and the paramilitaries)
• 8. Fighting ‘the enemy within’: internal state terrorism, Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’ (1976-83) and the UK miners’ strike (1984-85)
• 9. Conclusion: the role, nature and control of state crime
• References
• Index