Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

Dominance," 17.176 Smith concurs: "It is also difficult to identify the boundaries of the state .... Many parts of civilsociety are given institutional access to the state and play a role in the development of puhlicpolicy. The state also funds a number of groups within society which, although in principleautonomous, arc highly dependent on the state. In addition, the boundaries of the state are COIltinuallychanging through privatization, the hiving off of pans of the civil service and the creationof new regulatory bodies." Smith, Pressure, Power and Policy, 2. The absence of clearly demarcatedboundaries (defining the limits of the state) seems to me a theoretical advantage. It allows us toreplace a binary opposition, in which an agency is always either identified with the state or not,with a continuum in which it should be considered a part of the state to the degree that it isincorporated into the relevant power nerworks. Privatized services, subsidized research and development,and police unions are thus more a part of the state than are church-run charities, fa milyfarms, and the IWW, but less a part of the state than Congress, the Army, or the courts.177 Szczech, "lkyond Autonomy or Dominance," 19. Emphasis in original. Again, Smith: "Withpolicy networks, power is a relationship based on dependence and not a zero-sum. Power issomething that develops within relationships between groups and state actors, and a policynetwork is frequently a mechanism for enhancing mutual power rather [han taking power fromone or the other." Smith, Pmsure, Po wer and Poliey, 7.178 Again, the tendency roward corporatism is discen ; ible. "Monopolistic and hierarchical groupshave the resources to negotiate with governments because they have the ability to implement anydecisions which are agreed. Under corporatism, the role of groups is regulatory as well as rcpresentative.They are responsible for ensuring that their members accept agreed policy decisions'-'Smith, Pressure, Power and Policy, 31.179 Szczech's thesis studies one manifestation of this process, the 1 990s wave of prison expansion:"The expansion of the U.s. prison system has clearly augmented the power of criminal justiceinstitutions and actors considerably. This came about however, through a political process of networkingthat has also increased the power and resources of social acrors: prisoll guards' and policeunions, firms that contract with prisons, and rural communities that would otherwise havcfa ced economic depression. Likewise, prison expansion has not increased the power or autonomyof the state as a whole. The fiscal costs of imprisonment have entailed severe fiscal cutbacks andreduced capacity in nearly every other governmental sector, especially social welfare." Szczech,"Beyond Autonomy Ot Dominance," 85.180 "Unions, as so many authors have noted, are a source of personal mobility. Union officialdombecomes a carecr in itself, and union officials act to preserve their privileges. Collusive bargainingoffers a number of advantages to union leaders in this position. By engaging in collusivebatgaining, association leaders win concessions for their members without engaging in strikes(which are always costly and problematic in the public sector whrc