Worst-case Scenario: Governance, Mediation and the Security Regime Paperback – 9 Jun. 2011

Stuart Price's book is based on the thesis that scenario planning is not a naive means of planning for emergencies, but is instead a means of enforcing hegemonic norms and ensuring compliance through fear. Evidence for this argument primarily comes from the UK, with some US and Greek discussion as well. It focuses on the use of untrained individuals (such as store managers) and their placement in roles of authority as a means of conditioning others to accept all assertions of authority; the use of the worst-case scenario as a means to cement the idea that these scenarios are _likely_ to happen, and the use of scenario planning against uncredible threats (what Bruce Schneier terms "movie-plot threats") to invoke an atmosphere of fear. The book is, as other reviewers have noted, written in an academic style that can be difficult to get through at times. However, it is an extremely thoroughly argued and cogent discussion of what role security actually plays in the enforcement of the state's preferred norms.