Personalizing the State: An Anthropology of Law, Politics, and Welfare in Austerity Britain

Liberal democracy appears in crisis. From the rise of 'law and order' and ever tougher forms of means-testing under 'austerity politics' to the outcome of Britain's referendum on leaving the EU, commentators have rushed to explain the current conjuncture. Starting with dominant theories that have seen these developments as indicative of a rise in 'penal populism' or 'popular authoritarianism', Personalizing the State revisits one of the central paradoxes of our times: the illiberal turn tha...