Overview

In The Myth of Mob Rule, Lisa Miller compares three countries--the US, the UK, and the Netherlands--and explores when and with what consequences crime becomes a politically salient issue. Drawing from extensive original research, her findings reverse many of the accepted causal claims in the literature, finding that countries with multi-party parliamentary systems are more responsive to mass publics than the U.S. on crime and that such responsiveness promotes protection from a range of social risks, including from excessive violence and state repression. In other words, democratic publics in such countries support measures against violent crime, but also support policies that alleviate and improve social conditions in high-crime areas. The Myth of Mob Rule is essential reading for anyone concerned with the ways that political institutions affect crime and social welfare.

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9780190921682

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Reviews

Miller does provide an engaging empirical account of violent crime trends in each country and, through an array of creative methodologies, analyzes how the public, the media, and political elites have responded to these trends. The real strength of the book is Miller's extensive examination of crime and politics in the US. Miller traces violent crime trends over the past 60 years and provides a nuanced account of how Republicans and Democrats have responded to citizen concerns about violent crime. Miller compares and contrasts the case of the US with the Netherlands and Great Britain to examine how different political systems respond to citizen concerns over violent crime. * CHOICE *

Author Information

Lisa L. Miller is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, and author of The Perils of Federalism (OUP).

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