ABSTRACT
The increasing number of global justice protests, their explosive growth, their reliance on direct action repertoires, and the frequent clashes between demonstrators and police have raised among sociologists the issue of mass demonstrations and the maintenance of law and order. Other chapters of this volume were dedicated to the question of whether we are witnessing a profound transformation in forms of political participation and/or methods of management of public order within democratic states – or, as partisans of the movement affi rm, a ‘criminalization of social movements’ (e.g. George 2001; Palidda 2001; Petrella 2001). The present contribution is inspired by the observation that not only at the national but also at the transnational level, in particular within the European Union, the global justice movement is perceived as one of the ‘new threats’ alongside terrorism: the European Police College (CEPOL), established by the Council Decision of 22 December 2000, affi rms in the welcoming section of its website its aim to refl ect, along with the priorities specifi ed within the Council Decision, those emerging in light of the summits at Gothenburg and Genoa and the events in New York on 11 September 2001.
