Space and Protest Policing at International Summits

Abstract

Since the 1970s a growing body of literature has taken a ‘geographic turn’ and sought to incorporate the study of spatial factors into the social sciences. Building on this theoretical literature, this study undertakes a spatial analysis of the contentious politics that have become so closely and regularly linked to international summit diplomacy. The paper examines and compares the protests surrounding two international summits held in Canada: the Vancouver Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (1997) and the Kananaskis G8 summit (2002). These two cases serve to demonstrate many of the important ways in which space is controlled and contested by both protesters and state actors such as the police.