Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Set Risk Free

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Law, Insecurity and Risk Control

Part of the book series: Crime Prevention and Security Management ((CPSM))

  • 244 Accesses

Abstract

However, by the end of the 1970s, the idea that governments should keep risk under control by manipulating market forces as and when necessary had largely come to an end. At this juncture, mainstream political thought on the right (then followed by that on the left) had been transformed into believing that protection from such risks should be thrown away. If risk was set free from the economic controls that had held it back, so it began to be claimed with growing stridency, this would revitalise economies, allow risk-takers to make their fortunes free from government restrictions; allow market forces rather than the inefficient and increasingly suspect state bureaucracies to distribute society’s wealth and rewards; allow the worthy and the successful to flourish—and in so doing make life in the fast lane an attractive and sought after possibility for all. It would also be the case that the irresponsible and the unworthy would have to wallow in their own misfortunes—they and only they would be responsible for this: why should the rest of society have to carry their burden, why should the state have to come to the assistance of the worthless, as welfare recipients were regarded in this discourse? In the course of these dramatic political and social transformations, the rule of law would be enforced to protect the worthy from the unworthy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    From the 1970s, the unemployment rate for young people has been significantly higher than for other age groups, after being largely negligible before then. In Australia, it had climbed to seventeen per cent of fifteen- to twenty-four-year-olds in 1982, similarly Australia. In Canada, it reached nineteen per cent in that year. In the UK, thirty per cent of sixteen- to seventeen-year-old school leavers were unemployed in 1980. In the US, youth unemployment reached a high of eighteen per cent in 1983. No corresponding data is available for New Zealand.

  2. 2.

    Walsham v. Walsham [1949] 1 All E.R. 774, 775.

  3. 3.

    Clark v. Clark, The Times June 24, 1958. (C.A.).

  4. 4.

    Evans v. Evans [1965] 2 All E.R. 789, 790–91.

  5. 5.

    Sheldon v. Sheldon [1966] 2 All E.R. 257, 259.

  6. 6.

    The crude divorce rate increased in Australia from 0.65 in 1960 to 2.67 in 1980. In Canada from 0.39 in 1960 to 2.59 in 1980; in New Zealand from 0.69 in 1960 to 2.08 in 1980; in England and Wales from 0.51 in 1960 to 2.99 in 1980; and in the US from 2.18 in 1960 to 5.19 in 1980.

  7. 7.

    The average family/household size in Australia decreased from 3.6 in 1961 to 3.0 in 1981. In New Zealand from 3.7 in 1951 to 3.0 in 1981; in England and Wales from 3.1 in 1961 to 2.7 in 1981; in Canada from 3.9 to 2.9 from 1961 to 1981; and in the US from 3.3 in 1960 to 2.8 in 1980.

  8. 8.

    Introduced in the late 1960s in the US, this involves welfare recipients having to undertake requirements involving training, searching for jobs, some form of community service and the like in return for their state benefits.

  9. 9.

    Care needs to be taken not to overstate how “the rule of law” was then enforced. In the US, of course, the “war on drugs” was initiated then and by 1990, its rate of imprisonment (prisons and jails), stood at around 400 per 100,000 of population. The fastest rate of increase, however, occurred in the 1990s in that country. The position was much more muted elsewhere, with prison rates relatively static at around 100 per 100,000 of population. In the UK, there was much more emphasis on enhancing police powers and numbers (see Reiner 2007). Indeed, following Home Office white papers of 1988 (Punishment, Custody and the Community), and 1990 (Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public), the Criminal Justice Act 1991 was intended to reduce the prison population by putting sentencing on a “just deserts” basis and limiting the power of judges to imprison. In New Zealand, it was also intended to apply neo-liberalisms’ economic rationalism to criminal justice by limiting imprisonment to violent offenders (Criminal Justice Act 1985).

References

  • Adam Smith Institute. n.d. London, United Kingdom (website). Accessed March 18, 2020. https://www.adamsmith.org/.

  • Auletta, Ken. 1982. The Underclass. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, Tom, and Jonathan Simon. 2002. Embracing Risk: The Changing Culture of Insurance and Responsibility. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC News. 2002. “New Town Blues.” July 27, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/2155116.stm.

  • Beveridge, William. 1942. Social Insurance and Allied Services [The Beveridge Report]. Cmd. 6404. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, Tony. 1997. “Speech to Labour Party Conference, Brighton, UK.” September 30, 1997. http://britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=203.

  • Bothwell, Robert, Ian Drummond, and John English. 1989. Canada Since 1945: Power, Politics, and Provincialism. Revised Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brittan, Samuel. 1973. Capitalism and the Permissive Society. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, Neil. 1993. “The Changing Structure of the Canadian Tax System: Accommodating the Rich.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 31 (1): 137–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, George W. 2001. “The President’s Radio Address.” July 21, 2001. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-radio-address-660.

  • Carr, Patricia, and Graham Beaver. 2002. “The Enterprise Culture: Understanding a Misunderstood Concept.” Strategic Change 11 (2): 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, Jimmy. 1979. “State of the Union Address, January 23, 1979.” https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/speeches/su79jec.phtml.

  • Clark, David. 2002. “Neoliberalism and Public Service Reform: Canada in Comparative Perspective.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 35 (4): 771–793.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, C. W. 1946. Farewell Squalor: A Design for a New Town and Proposals for the Redevelopment of the Easington Rural District. West Hartlepool: Easington Rural District Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clinton, William. 1996. “Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union. January 22, 1996.” Public Papers of the Presidents: William J. Clinton: 1996 [Book 1], 79–87. Washington: Office of the Federal Register.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clinton, William. 1999. “Remarks on United States Foreign Policy. San Francisco, California, February 26, 1999.” Public Papers of the Presidents: William J. Clinton: 1999 [Book 1], 272–279. Washington: Office of the Federal Register.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cockett, Richard. 1995. Thinking the Unthinkable: Think-tanks and the Economic Counter-Revolution: 1931–1983. London: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conservative Party (UK). 1987. Politics Today: Economic Issues. London: Conservative Research Department.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Trade and Industry. 1988. DTI—The Department for Enterprise. Cm 278. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, Roger. 1980. There’s got to be a Better Way!: A Practical ABC to Solving New Zealand’s Major Problems. Wellington: Forth Estate Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, Roger. 1993. Unfinished Business. Auckland: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downes, David and Rodney Morgan. 1997. “Dumping the ‘Hostages to Fortune’? The Politics of Law and Order in Post-War Britain.” In The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, edited by Mike Maguire, Rod Morgan, and Robert Reiner, 87–135. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishman, Robert. 1977. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, Milton. 1962. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, David. 2001. The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, Anthony. 2000. The Third Way and Its Critics. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glazer, Nathan. 1979. “On Subway Graffiti in New York.” Public Interest 54: 3–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golding, Peter, and Sue Middleton. 1982. Images of Welfare: Press and Public Attitudes to Poverty. Oxford: Martin Robertson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray, John. 1984. “The Road to Serfdom: Forty Years On”. In Hayek’s “Serfdom” Revisited: Essays by Economists, Philosophers, and Political Scientists on “The Road to Serfdom” after 40 Years, edited by Norman P. Barry, 25–42. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, David G. 1996. “Foreword: The Emerging British Underclass.” In Charles Murray and the Underclass: The Developing Debate, edited by Ruth Lister, 19–23. London: IEA Health and Welfare Unit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenspan, Alan. 1994. “The New Risk Management Tools in Banking.” Address to the Garn Institute of Finance, University of Utah, November 30, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacker, Jacob S. 2006. The Great Risk Shift. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Stuart, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts. 1978. Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handy, Charles. 1989. The Age Of Unreason. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, Friedrich von. 1944. The Road to Serfdom. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, Friedrich von. 1960. The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, Friedrich von. 1976. Law, Legislation and Liberty. Volume 2. The Mirage of Social Justice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Home Office. 1985. Lifting the Burden. Cmnd. 9571. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover Institution. n.d. “Mission/History.” Accessed March 27, 2019. https://www.hoover.org/about/missionhistory.

  • Howe, Geoffrey. 1978. “A Zone of Enterprise to Make All Systems ‘Go’”. Speech to the Bow Group on ‘Liberating Free Enterprise: A New Experiment’. The Waterman’s Arms, London E14, June 26, 1978. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111842.

  • Howe, Geoffrey. 1988. Enterprise Zones and the Enterprise Culture. London: Bow Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • iLivehere (2019). Peterlee. https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/statistics-peterlee-durham-30353.html

  • Kelly, Paul. 1994. The End of Certainty: Power, Politics and Business in Australia. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelsey, Jane. 1995. The New Zealand Experiment: A World Model for Structural Adjustment? Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kershaw, Ian. 2018. Roller-Coaster: Europe, 1950–2017. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kynaston, David. 2009. Family Britain, 1951–1957. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, Nigel. 1980. “The New Conservatism. Lecture to the Bow Group” Accessed March 24, 2020. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/109505.

  • Lawson, Nigel. 1988. The New Britain: The Tide of Ideas from Attlee to Thatcher. London: Centre for Policy Studies. https://www.cps.org.uk/files/reports/original/111027172834-TheNewBritain1988.pdf.

  • Mace, David. 1948. Marriage Counselling. London: J. and A. Churchill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Housing and Local Government. 1961. Report of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government: 1960. Cmnd. 1435. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mont Pelerin Society. n.d. “Statement of Aims.” Accessed March 24, 2020. https://www.montpelerin.org/statement-of-aims/.

  • Moore, John. 1984. “Privatisation Achievement.” Speech to the Eccleston Supper Club, July 18, 1984. Treasury Press Release 122/84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulvagh, Jane. 1988. Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, Charles. 1984. Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • New Zealand. Criminal Justice Act 1985. Public Act 1985 No. 120.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 1993. OECD Economic Surveys: New Zealand 1993. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, David, and Ted Gaebler. 1993. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. New York: Plume.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, James T. 2005. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, Tom. 1987. Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for A Management Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, Tom, and Robert H. Waterman. 1982. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. New York: Warner Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiner, Robert. 2007. Law and Order: An Honest Citizen’s Guide to Crime and Control. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Royal Commission to Inquire into Social Security. 1972. Social Security in New Zealand. Wellington: Government Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, Anthony. 1962. Anatomy of Britain. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, Anthony. 1992. The Essential Anatomy of Britain: Democracy in Crisis. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saul, John. 2008. A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada. Toronto: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seldon, Arthur. ed. 1961. Agenda for a Free Society: Essays on Hayek’s ‘The Constitution of Liberty’. London: Hutchinson and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selsdon Group. n.d. “The Selsdon Declaration.” Accessed March 24, 2020. https://www.selsdongroup.co.uk/home.

  • Shipley, Jenny, Simon Upton, Lockwood Smith, and John Luxton. 1991. Social Assistance: Welfare that Works. Wellington: New Zealand Department of Social Welfare.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuart, Forrest. 2016. Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Ian. 1981. Law and Order. Arguments for Socialism. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thatcher, Margaret. 1966. Speech to Conservative Party Conference, Winter Gardens, Blackpool, UK, October 12, 1966. Accessed July 25, 2019. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/101520.

  • Thatcher, Margaret. 1979. “The Renewal of Britain.” Speech to the Conservative Political Summer School, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK. Accessed July 25, 2019. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104107.

  • Thatcher, Margaret. 1985. Speech to Conservative Central Council, City Hall, Newcastle, UK, March 23, 1985. Accessed July 25, 2019. https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106000.

  • Thatcher, Margaret. 1995. The Path To Power. London: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Elaine. 1991. “Democracy Undermined: Reforms to the Australian Public Service from Whitlam to Hawke.” Australian Quarterly 63 (2): 127–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, Loïc. 2004. “Penal Truth Comes to Europe: Think Tanks and the ‘Washington Consensus’ on Crime and Punishment.” In Crime, Truth and Justice: Official Inquiry, Discourse, Knowledge, edited by George Gilligan, and John Pratt, 161–180. Cullompton, UK: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, Jack. 1968. Marriage Guidance. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis, Jack, and Harold Booker. 1958. Marriage Counselling: A Description and Analysis of the Remedial Work of the National Marriage Guidance Council. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilentz, Sean. 2008. The Age of Reagan: A History 1974–2008. New York: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, James Q. 1975. Thinking About Crime. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, David A. 1984. “The Rise and Demise of the Keynesian Era in Canada: Economic Policy, 1930–1982.” In Modern Canada, 1930–1980s, edited by Michael Cross, and Gregory Kealey, 46–80. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, Bob. 1994. The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    John Pratt

Authors
  1. John Pratt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Pratt .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pratt, J. (2020). Set Risk Free. In: Law, Insecurity and Risk Control. Crime Prevention and Security Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48872-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48872-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-48871-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-48872-7

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation