Handbook on Sexual Violence (108 page)

result of the ‘affinity’ with neo-liberalism. To test this out would require a deep excavation of the extent to which the ‘risk-crazed governance’ observed by Carlen (2008) has taken root or is merely an ‘imaginary’ that suppresses one form of knowledge in favour of another (see Walklate 2008 on responses to violence against women on this point). However, it may be that what is at stake here is also how we view the role of politics under neo-liberal capitalism. As Fox-Piven (2010: 111) observes:

Neoliberalism is of course still capitalism, but it is a new kind of capitalism, powered by a new logic. . . . In other words, neoliberalism means that politics and the State have become more important instruments in the age-old capitalist project of class domination. . . . In sum, neoliberalism is a new
political
project to increase capitalist power and wealth. (our emphasis)

Whilst the extent to which this neo-liberal project has informed institutional pre-occupations globally (see for example O’Malley 2002) – as some of the contributions in this book illustrate – can be debated, it is nonetheless a moot point as to the extent to which politics will afford the space for the reconstitution of the feminist project along the lines suggested by Fraser. In the UK, Walklate’s (2008) analysis implies that this is unlikely and as Jordan’s chapter suggests, the struggle never ceases. As Polanyi (1957, 2001) argues, the retreat and advance of market capitalism shifts in the face of resistance to protect people and society from its worst excesses; and that includes the bankers! This is his concept of a double movement and it is a concept that may be of value in understanding the ever-present contradictory messages that surround debates and policy responses to sexual violence.

As austerity measures ‘bite’ differently in different economic contexts, it will be interesting to see what remains as important on national policy agendas and what slips down the hierarchy. In the UK, for example, it is already possible to see that there are some gains and losses. Rape Crisis, for example, have been assured a appropriate level of funding to extend their services by the current Home Secretary but the Women’s National Commission is to be disbanded. At the same time police forces are facing significant funding shortfalls. What activities they are likely to reduce their involvement in as a result has yet to be evidenced, but responding to violence against women may well feature. On the other hand, the Minister for Justice has already made some telling interventions on both the expense of imprisonment and the appropriateness of its use. In this context it could be that the community alternatives proposed by the Corston Report on women, offending and vulnerability might be taken on board – not, of course, driven by the ethos of holism that featured so strongly in Corston, but driven by cost-effectiveness. This may be an unintended consequence of the present financial crisis, of that there is no doubt, and there will be others. However, transformation, as a model of equality, seems as remote now as when Elizabeth Wilson wrote her seminal book on violence against women published in 1983. The double movement of the capitalist process requires mechanisms for its continued viability and institutional policy responses form one of those mechanisms;

policy responses in which ensuring the wider engagement of the political community is crucial (Jessop 2002). However, these processes are never always one-sided. Institutions and individuals constantly interact with one another, always affording the social conditions for change. There have been improvements in levels of satisfaction with the police. There has been a recognition of the wider economic and social impact of sexual violence on society. We have markedly improved ways of assessing the nature and extent of sexual violence, who does what to whom, both nationally and internationally. We have suggested ways to close the implementation gap. As Liz Kelly observes in the Preface, the demand for more meaningful conceptual maps remains. Consequently the struggle for change and to change remains the same:
plus ¸ca change, plus c’est la mˆeme chose
!

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Glossary of terms
‌

ACPO: Association of Chief Police Officers, an umbrella organisation that comprises the membership of all chief police officers of the rank of Assistant Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable and Chief Constable of police forces throughout England and Wales.

Attrition: A contested term used to refer to the number of cases which ‘fall out’ of the criminal justice system at different stages in the process.

CPS: Crown Prosecution Service, being the organisation responsible for prosecuting cases in England and Wales.

Culture of control: A concept devised by Garland (2001) to capture the contemporary emphasis within UK and US criminal justice policy on a punitive response to offending behaviour and the wider processes that have been put in place to ensure that the responsibility for responding to and managing offending behaviour is widely dispersed between different organisations and wider society.

Deserving victim: This reflects the idea that some people are victims through no fault of their own and others are not; they have in some way or another contributed to what has happened to them and therefore ‘deserve’ the outcome. It is an idea that has its roots in the historical distinction between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor that informs much of the welfare system response in England and Wales.

Gender mainstreaming: A policy initiative designed to ensure that issues relating to gender feature in the development and implementation of policy not solely confined to sexual violence but covering all policy domains.

Hegemonic masculinity: Ideological and practical processes that endorse men as being the dominant sex in gender relations.

Heteropatriarchy: A term used not only to delineate the nature of male power but also to capture the heterosexual assumptions underpinning that power.

HMIC: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the body having oversight of the police in England and Wales to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness.

Homophobia: A fear of homosexuality.

IDVA: Independent domestic violence adviser.

Implementation gap: The difference between the promise of policy and its actual practice.

Incidence: The number of events occurring in a specified time period.

INSTRAW: A United Nations unit whose full title is the International and Research Training Institute for the Advancement of Women.

IPCC: Independent Police Complaints Commission who investigate complaints against the police in England and Wales.

Justice gap: The difference between the number of people brought before the criminal justice system and the number of people receiving convictions as a result. Usually used in reference to cases of rape.

LGB: Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual.

MARAC: Multi-agency risk assessment conference.

Neo-liberalism: A term used to describe contemporary features of capitalism that value individualism and the free market.