In Policing Protest Paul A. Passavant explores how the policing of protest in the United States has become increasingly hostile since the late 1990s, moving away from strategies that protect protesters toward militaristic practices designed to suppress protests. He identifies reactions to three interrelated crises that converged to institutionalize this new mode of policing: the political mobilization of marginalized social groups in the Civil Rights era that led to a perceived crisis of democracy, the urban fiscal crisis of the 1970s, and a crime crisis that was associated with protests and civil disobedience of the 1960s. As Passavant demonstrates, these reactions are all haunted by the figure of black insurrection, which continues to shape policing of protest and surveillance, notably in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Ultimately, Passavant argues, this trend of violent policing strategies against protesters is evidence of the emergence of a post-democratic state in the United States.

"“This book affected me like a good shot of whiskey. Complex, bracing, needed.”" - Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics

"“Although of late a lot has been written on policing, nothing that I have read takes up this important topic of protest policing, let alone gives it such a far-reaching and well-supported reading. The policing of protest turns out to be a distinctive but truly revealing piece of contemporary policing, one that no one has covered as comprehensively as Paul A. Passavant does in this text.”" - Mass Incarceration on Trial: A Remarkable Court Decision and the Future of Prisons in America

"“A masterful book filled with keen insights about policing protests using grounded data and compelling stories. It’s easily the best analysis I’ve read on this topic and sets a new standard for theoretical integration, clarity, and real-world relevance.”" - Militarizing the American Criminal Justice System: The Changing Roles of the Armed Forces and the Police

"Policing Protest is a compelling read for scholars and graduate students interested in the police state and its institutional developments in law, political culture, and urban political economy." - E3W Review of Books

"Policing Protest is an exceptionally good book—persuasively argued, meticulously researched, and stunning in its explanatory power." - Perspectives on Politics

"Passavant’s Policing Protest is a book that eerily puts recent events into a new perspective and adds to our understanding of how the police are engaging with our right to protest." - Ethnic and Racial Studies

"Policing Protest is a profound, groundbreaking, and urgent work that should be read by students of US politics, criminal justice, democratic theory, race and racism, and constitutional law." - Theory & Event

"Skillfully connects seemingly disconnected trends and features of contemporary life to construct a cohesive and novel understanding of the legal, political, and economic predicament in which we find ourselves. The book is at once sweeping in its implications, nuanced in its arguments, and detailed in the evidence it brings to bear on these questions. It will be of great interest to scholars of social movements, policing, and law as well as a broader audience of those concerned about protecting the freedom to engage in dissent." - Criminal Law & Criminal Justice Book Reviews