Histories of State Surveillance in Europe and Beyond (Routledge Studies in Crime and Society)

Does the development of new technology cause an increase in the level of surveillance used by central government? Is the growth in surveillance merely a reaction to terrorism, or a solution to crime control? Are there more structural roots for the increase in surveillance?

This book attempts to find some answers to these questions by examining how governments have increased their use of surveillance technology. Focusing on a range of countries in Europe and beyond, this book demonstrates how government penetration into private citizens' lives was developing years before the ‘war on terrorism.’ It also aims to answer the question of whether central government actually has penetrated ever deeper into the lives of private citizens in various countries inside and outside of Europe, and whether citizens are protected against it, or have fought back.

The main focus of the volume is on how surveillance has shaped the relationship between the citizen and the State. The contributors and editors of the volume look into the question of how central government came to intrude on citizens’ private lives from two perspectives: identification card systems and surveillance in post-authoritarian societies. Their aim is to present the heterogeneity of the European historical surveillance past in the hope that this might shed light on current trends.

Essential reading for criminologists, sociologists and political scientists alike, this book provides some much-needed historical context on a highly topical issue.

Kees Boersma is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the VU University Amsterdam, Department of Organization Sciences. His current research is about safety, security and surveillance. He is group leader of AREA (Amsterdam Research on Emergency Administration).

Rosamunde van Brakel has Master degrees in criminology and educational sciences and is currently a PhD candidate at the research group of Law, Science, Technology and Society Studies at the Free University of Brussels. Her research investigates the social, ethical and legal consequences of pre-emptive surveillance of children.

Chiara Fonio (PhD in Sociology and Methodology of the Social Research) is a researcher in Sociology at the Catholic University of Milan. Her research interests range from the history of surveillance to the securitization of mega-events and the impact of CCTV within urban contexts.

Pieter Wagenaar is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration in the Faculty of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam. He has published on a range of topics concerning the informatization of public administration and the history of public administration.