Social Control in Globalization of Public Law: The Enforcement of Law

Abstract

In the wake of World War II, a paradigmatic shift occurred in the study of social control. The once predominant notion of a consensual society was challenged by the emergence of fascism, Nazism, and the horrors of war. Consequently, scholars began to examine social control through a lens that acknowledged its coercive and repressive dimensions, driven not solely by social norms but by power dynamics and force. This article will review how globalization has been addressed by research of public law and will deepen the legal and sociological focus on law, focusing on the mechanisms of enforcement that accom­pany legal systems. Theoretical introduction will allow for a discussion of legal studies on a variety of dimensions and mechanisms of social control in the areas of policing. The rele­vance of legality was brought out most clearly by Max Weber in his definition of law. A normative order must always be accompanied by mechanisms and systems of control that secure obedience through norm enforcement. Such systems of control range from very informal responses and normative expectations, such as public disapproval or private shame, to highly formalized systems of enforcement of law by police institutions. Good comparisons with experimental and previous studies demonstrated that enforcement is a special and unavoidable problem of law.