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Why Is There No Just Riot Theory?

We are pleased to announce that Professor Jonathan Havercroft's (University of Southampton) British Academy Brian Barry Prize-winning article Why Is There No Just Riot Theory? is now available Open Access from the British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS).



Civil Disobedience Roundtable

On the 24th of March, 2021 Professor Havercroft took part in a roundtable on the topic of Civil Disobedience, hosted by CRITIQUE. The participants were:

  • Juliet Hooker, Brown University
  • Talat Ahmed, University of Edinburgh
  • Jonathan Havercroft, Southampton University
  • Alexander Livingston, Cornell University


Watch in full here.

(n.b. Havercroft's contribution begins at 01:05:49)


Havercroft's article explores why there is no just riot theory tradition in Western political theory and argues it is because riots are extra-institutional in four ways;

  • they are extra-public because rioting crowds self-organize (they are not formally institutionalized groups such as parties or social movements
  • they are extra-state because rioting disrupts the state's monopoly on violence
  • they are extra-legal because they involve breaking laws concerning public assembly; and
  • they are extra-parliamentary because rioters express their grievances outside of normal political processes.


Read the article in full.

Listen now to a recording of Why Is There No Just Riot Theory? using the link below.


You can also access Professor Havercroft's blog post from January 2021 'How can the Black Lives Matter riots be justified, whereas the “Stop the Steal” riot is not?'.




Just Riot Theory - What is it? Why isn't there one? Why is it important?

In this interview with Professor Ilan Zvi Baron (Durham University) Jonathan Havercroft talks about his article: 'Why is there no just riot theory?'

In Professor Baron's third video from the BISA-sponsored learning and teaching project they discuss the meaning of 'Just Riot Theory', why there isn't one, and why it matters. Havercroft also discusses what it's like editing an academic journal.

You can access the interview on the BISA website or use the YouTube link shown here.


APSA Preprints

In May 2020, Professor Havercroft also uploaded the pre-publication working paper of his article to APSA Preprints where it obtained a DOI and was available to share with peers in order to get feedback and track metrics.

APSA Preprints is a free-to-access prepublication platform dedicated to early research outputs in political science and related disciplines. It has been developed through a collaboration of the American Political Science Association and Cambridge University Press.


About The British Academy Brian Barry Prize

In partnership with Cambridge University Press and the British Journal of Political Science (BJPolS), the British Academy awards an annual prize in honour of Brian Barry, a distinguished Fellow of the Academy and founding editor of the journal.

Find out more and read all previous winning articles here.


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