Alasdair Roberts (1)

In years past, severe economic downturns and unfair political practices led to protests and riots. In The End of Protest, author Alasdair Roberts asks why there aren't more protests now, particularly after the economic crash of 2008. This is a question I have asked as well. Where was the outrage? Sure, we saw people talking on television, saw posts on the internet, but why hadn't people taken to the streets with pitchforks and torches the way they had in the past? Roberts attempts to answer this question.

Now, full disclosure: I read this book a little a while ago with the intent to review it then, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it has taken me quite a while to get around to writing this review. It turns out that this time has changed my initial perspective on the book and has provided much more valuable insight into Roberts' message, and ultimately I feel that I can provide a much better review now than I initially could have.

Roberts' prose is a little confusing at first. While he seems very direct and straight to the point, there are times when it feels more like he's stalking the point and takes forever to actually get there. Still, it is clean with few errors and easy to read, making it easy for the layman to pick up and understand.

In this book, Roberts details the rise of protests, particularly with the Industrial Revolution, saying that at that time, protests had practically become an expected part of life, but had become disruptive to the establishment. This led to the creation of a standing police force. That's right. Roberts proposes that the original purpose of the police was not to serve and protect the people from crimes. The police were actually created to quell protests and keep the established order running without disruption and maintain free market principles. This was something that I met with skepticism. I did not consider it outside the realm of possibility, but also didn't feel that Roberts really provided enough evidence for this claim.

That is, until the happenings in Ferguson, Missouri last year. Observing not only the initial attack by the police, but the police response to the growing protests, not only there but in other places as more and more police-involved shootings occurred, immediately made me think of this book. Indeed, the police seemed to primarily be acting as an anti-protest unit with little or no concern for public safety. Life actually added weight to Roberts' argument.

Roberts continues, following other protests and responses to them, up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. He argues that Occupy Wall Street tried be different to avoid past protesting problems, and while it was the result of a seething and legitimate anger, failed primarily due to this lack of centralized leadership intended to combat the monitoring and intimidation tactics now used to quell protest and prevent organizing before they even get going. When no one could be on the same page, they couldn't even agree on a date for when the protest should take place until the Canadian firm Adbusters finally stepped up and said it would start on September 17, 2011. After the media refused to cover it initially and only did after the voices grew too loud, then began to sweep it under the rug and add more distractions to take people's attention away. Bread and circuses.

While a good study on the history protest and the responses to it, the book is ultimately lukewarm in its tone and rather myopic in the scope of protests it studies. Roberts focuses primarily on economic-based protests of the United States and Great Britain, and does not cover protests that started for other reasons or in other areas (like France; now the French are people that know how to riot!). In addition, this book is preaching to the choir. It's likely going to be read by people that already agree with the premise, and will probably be avoided by those who don't already agree with it.

It's an okay study, and Roberts makes and backs up his point well, but is ultimately a letdown and won't reach those that really should be reading it.

The End of Protest by Alasdair Roberts get 3 picket signs out of 5.

Note: A free copy of this book was provided to this reviewer by the publisher through NetGalley. This did not in any way affect the content of this review.… (meer)

Written in the shadow of the 2008 financial collapse, this monograph ties together a number of trends that are often overlooked in how the the 1837 panic has usually been blandly treated as an economic hiccup. For one, Roberts reminds readers that this is a time when the United States was very much in the economic orbit of Great Britain and that the explosion of the panic had as much to do with the Bank of England seeking to call in its debts as anything else. Two, economic policy is often a reflection of political principles. The 1837 emergency and its long duration is a reminder of that reality. This being the period of peak Jacksonianism, with its distrust of centralized authority, maximum power in the state capitals, and the craze for "internal improvements" in the wake of the success of the Erie Canal The result of which being that assorted state governments were in competition to build up their transportation infrastructure so as to win the battle for internal trade; taking on unsustainable levels of speculative debt to do so.

Exacerbating the crisis were a number of factors. One was a lack of federal fiscal structures that could manage the crisis, particularly since the federal government's main concern of the time was to try and salvage its holdings of hard money deposited with the favored state banks, which only further inured the economy in stasis. Then there was the matter of how many state governments chose to face the issue of debt by simply defaulting on their payments, which led to the collapse of economic currents between the United States and European sources of investment.

Ultimately the country did pull through the crisis but there were a variety of long-term impacts. One was that this is where the fiscal freedom of action of state governments were trimmed back. Two, this period also saw a strengthening of federal executive power, in the wake of Congress failing to rise above sectional rivalry. Three, this period also sees the rise of the big-city police forces to maintain order in the face of mob violence. Ultimately though, the solution to the crisis was either Europe having to reactivate its economic relationship with the United States due to its own economic crisis, or the Mexican War serving as a means to export domestic stress from the country (besides providing access to the gold of California).

It should also be noted that what makes this a modern historical study is that Roberts is acutely aware of climate, as it was a series of bad harvests in Britain that brought on the crisis and, frankly, it was another series of bad harvests in Europe that made the United States indispensable again (once assorted structural changes and "reforms" had been made).… (meer)

This was a well written book that is easy to read. If you know 19th century United States history, this book isn't going to have very much new for you with one exception. Specifically, the book spends time discussing in detail the number of states that defaulted on their "state" debt during the business depression and how that affected the United State's relationship with Britain. I knew about these defaults in a general way, but had never read a more detailed history about it. It's no wonder since the last monograph related specifically to these defaults is about fifty years old.

If you are not strong in your 19th century U.S. history, this monograph will very beneficial to you.… (meer)