Six-Shooter State - Public and Private Violence in American Politics

Public and private forms of violence have co-evolved rather than competed in America's political development since the nineteenth century.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Jurisdictional decoupling as institutional change; 3. Bandits, elites, and vigilantes in antebellum Illinois; 4. Pinkertons and police in antebellum Chicago; 5. Racist vigilantism as reform in reconstruction Louisiana; 6. The violent careers of American gunfighters; 7. Conclusion; Index.

About the author

Jonathan Obert is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, where he has taught since 2014. He has published articles on violence, organizational change, and state formation in the US at Law & Social Inquiry, Perspectives on Politics, Studies in American Political Development, and the Journal of Policy History, among others.

Summary

Vigilantes and private security firms have not traditionally competed with police departments and other governmental forms of providing protection within the US; instead, using a series of historical cases, this book shows that a wide variety of public and private kinds of violence have instead developed together since the mid-nineteenth century.

Product details

• Authors: Jonathan Obert, Jonathan (Amherst College Obert
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2018
• EAN: 9781316515143
• ISBN: 978-1-316-51514-3
• No. of pages: 284
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / General, Politics & government, United States of America, USA, Politics and government, Police & security services, Violence in society, History of the Americas, Violence and abuse in society, Police and security services