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Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)

Michael Harrison Orcid Logo

European Journal of Criminology

Swansea University Author: Michael Harrison Orcid Logo

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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....

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Published in: European Journal of Criminology
ISSN: 1477-3708 1741-2609
Published: SAGE Publications 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71161
first_indexed 2025-12-19T14:27:24Z
last_indexed 2026-04-25T06:48:03Z
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spelling 2026-04-24T16:38:55.2489337 v2 71161 2025-12-19 Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK) e8e92c40f9920ba9187f82a67171eb8f 0000-0002-8434-4446 Michael Harrison Michael Harrison true false 2025-12-19 SOSS 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. Journal Article European Journal of Criminology 0 SAGE Publications 1477-3708 1741-2609 Criminal justice in Wales, multiple streams framework, riots, Wales, Welsh government 28 2 2026 2026-02-28 10.1177/14773708251413388 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-04-24T16:38:55.2489337 2025-12-19T14:25:49.6204651 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Michael Harrison 0000-0002-8434-4446 1 71161__36593__ff8a8f0b3efa4089b8312f3a1fb8ce83.pdf 71161.VOR.pdf 2026-04-24T16:26:16.0653140 Output 326631 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
spellingShingle Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
Michael Harrison
title_short Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
title_full Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
title_fullStr Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
title_full_unstemmed Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
title_sort Narratives, policies and responses to rioting in a multi-level governance system: The case study of Wales (UK)
author_id_str_mv e8e92c40f9920ba9187f82a67171eb8f
author_id_fullname_str_mv e8e92c40f9920ba9187f82a67171eb8f_***_Michael Harrison
author Michael Harrison
author2 Michael Harrison
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container_title European Journal of Criminology
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publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1477-3708
1741-2609
doi_str_mv 10.1177/14773708251413388
publisher SAGE Publications
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description 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.
published_date 2026-02-28T07:55:17Z
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