When Law and Order Politics Fail: Identifying Protective Factors that Limit the Politics of Fear

The political economy of crime and insecurity has long been a topic of scholarly work. The leveraging of fear of crime for political capital has been of particular concern. Australia provides an interesting case study in the dynamics of such politics, and this article focuses on the state of Victoria, where prior to the 2018 state election crime became a significant political issue, particularly through racialized discourse about ‘African gangs'. Considering why the politics of law and order failed, we conclude with the idea that the political economy of crime and insecurity needs to be understood in the context of broader individual, community, and social vulnerabilities related to protective factors regarding the fear of crime.