Triumph of Order: Democracy & Public Space in New York and London (review)

This book is a comparative study of governmental efforts to control and regulate the uses of public space in nineteenth-century London and New York. Keller's account begins by stressing that the rise of democracy and the simultaneous great growth of cities in population and diversified economic activity in the nineteenth century necessitated the creation by mid-century of municipal police forces entrusted with great discretion to ensure public order as a prerequisite for urban growth and prosperity. "The new attitude was one of zero tolerance for anything that promoted disorder. . . . If hegemonic forces made the city prosperous, then their interests would be served" (51).

Keller's most important and persistent theme in a study that ranges broadly and occasionally looses focus is in treating issues involved in public assemblages expressing political dissent. In this regard, she has made an interesting contribution to legal as well as urban history. Democratic societies require a trade-off between protecting civil liberties and the need to maintain the security of people, property and the public peace. This balancing act is a highly fluid process that of course alters with changing political and social circumstances. The moral and legal issues involved are complex, confusing, and disputatious. The essential need is determining what restrictions and police practices are necessary to ensure public safety. In this discussion, there is always great room for disagreements, rancor and injustices.

The British emphasis on common law and the legacy of the American revolutionary era occasionally acted to mitigate many of the more extreme attitudes regarding the potential dangers involved in pubic assemblages and fiery speeches challenging the existing social order. In the course of the century both cities and thus their nations had to grapple with establishing a systematic legal view of "the accountability of authorities and the suitability of public places for group protests" (65). The trajectory in both cities pushed for limiting liberties. To Keller, the resulting discourse remains relevant to the present.

Her final chapter, aside from a few imperceptive observations, largely leapfrogs the twentieth century to reflect on the 9/11 city where technology, especially the closed-circuit television, has extended government's ability to monitor individual action and surveil the streets. Her conclusion: "Viewed over the last 150 years, even with allowance for the growth of certain personal and civil liberties, the broader construct of liberty has contracted and that of order has increased" (219). There is certainly much to ponder and debate in this ambitious study of troubling and highly important issues.