Criminalizing Dissent

"Filling a gap in the social science literature, Rob Watts engages in a powerful defence of the right to dissent, which is defined as fundamental given the irreducible pluralism of ideas in every society. Bridging social theory with empirical analysis of recent forms of criminalization of acts of resistance, he convincingly challenges the myth of liberal democracy as tolerant of disagreement and points at the complex - and not always rational - relations between fear, security and liberalism." - Donatella della Porta, Professor of Political Science and Political Sociology, European University Institute, Italy "Rob Watts' Criminalizing Dissent could not appear at a more important moment. In a careful, deliberate manner, he undertakes to explain not just what dissent is and the many forms it can take in liberal democracies, but also why it is so important that we protect it. This is a timeless lesson that seems especially relevant now." - Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, US

Rob Watts is currently a professor of Social Policy at RMIT University where he teaches politics, criminology, policy studies and applied human rights. He was a founding member of the Greens Party in Victoria, and established the Australian Center for Human Rights Education at RMIT in 2008. His recent books include States of Violence and the Civilising Process (2016), Public Universities, Managerialism and the Value of the University (2017) and The Precarious Generation: A Political Economy of Young People (2018, co-authored).

Introduction 1. Thinking about Dissent 2. Thinking Relationally: Bringing the Political Back In 3. The Many Faces of Dissent 4. Protecting Democracies from Themselves: How Liberal Democracies Criminalise the Political 5. Law Against Liberty: Making Sense of the Criminalization of Dissent 6. Liberalism, Law and the Problem of Legitimacy 7. The Political Legitimacy of the Liberal-Democratic State 8. The Legitimacy of Political Violence 9. Why Dissent Is Good for Us