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Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
Michael Harrison 
European Journal of Criminology
Swansea University Author:
Michael Harrison
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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/14773708251413388
Abstract
Wales (UK) has had two significant outbreaks of rioting in recent years. In 2021, there was public disorder in Mayhill (Swansea) during a vigil for a young person that had prematurely died. Then in 2023, there was rioting in Ely (Cardiff) after two young boys lost their lives during a police chase....
| Published in: | European Journal of Criminology |
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| ISSN: | 1477-3708 1741-2609 |
| Published: |
SAGE Publications
2026
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71161 |
| Abstract: |
Wales (UK) has had two significant outbreaks of rioting in recent years. In 2021, there was public disorder in Mayhill (Swansea) during a vigil for a young person that had prematurely died. Then in 2023, there was rioting in Ely (Cardiff) after two young boys lost their lives during a police chase. State reactions to riots have become formulaic in terms of leaders condemning the disorder, and promising swift and punitive action. However, responses can be more fluid where states implement accommodating policies that aim to address riot related issues such as poverty and social exclusion. How states respond to rioting reveals important insights into their relationship with their citizens and in this paper, I provide an analysis of how the Welsh Government (WG) responded to the riots. Powers and responsibilities of the WG are devolved by the UK Government, and as I document within, criminal justice – a policy area that would typically be used to address rioting – is not a devolved policy and is reserved to the UK Government. However, this did not restrict the WG as riot issues were addressed through devolved policies. Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) was used as a conceptual framework to analyse the WGs response. MSF considers how narratives and policy solutions are articulated within discrete socio-political domains. A qualitative research strategy was used where I analysed nearly 80 different sources from various public domain platforms. My findings revealed that the WG addressed riot issues through community interventions focusing on tackling social exclusion in the respective communities. While this response to the riots represented the ‘progressive’ image that the WG has steadily cultivated, their approach was more nuanced and, on some occasions, explicitly punitive in how rioters should be treated. |
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| Keywords: |
Criminal justice in Wales, multiple streams framework, riots, Wales, Welsh government |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
Swansea University |