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Governing Safety: Deconstructing “Safe Nightlife” in Groningen

Veldkamp, Demi Amber LU (2026) SOLM02 20261
Sociology of Law Department
Abstract
This thesis examines how safety is governed in urban policy by analysing the municipality of Groningen’s renewed Actieplan Veilig Uitgaan 2025. Bacchi’s What is the problem represented to be? (WPR) approach is applied to deconstruct how the action plan represents safety as a governance problem, what assumptions make this representation possible, and what is left unproblematised. The analysis draws on securitisation theory, neoliberal governance, and the concept of depoliticisation.
The thesis finds that the action plan represents unsafe nightlife as a consequence of individual “not normal” behaviour, to be solved through formulating a new norm. This representation rests on three assumptions: that governance oversight is necessary, that... (More)
This thesis examines how safety is governed in urban policy by analysing the municipality of Groningen’s renewed Actieplan Veilig Uitgaan 2025. Bacchi’s What is the problem represented to be? (WPR) approach is applied to deconstruct how the action plan represents safety as a governance problem, what assumptions make this representation possible, and what is left unproblematised. The analysis draws on securitisation theory, neoliberal governance, and the concept of depoliticisation.
The thesis finds that the action plan represents unsafe nightlife as a consequence of individual “not normal” behaviour, to be solved through formulating a new norm. This representation rests on three assumptions: that governance oversight is necessary, that preventing disorder produces safety, and that “normal” is self-evident. These assumptions depoliticise safety by obscuring the power relations involved. What is left unproblematised, are the role of chain partners in producing unsafety, alternatives to the preventive gaze, and the exclusion of certain harms and perspectives. The thesis concludes by calling for repoliticising safety back into the radical roots of feminist and anti-racist struggles for safety that address structural inequalities of violence and economic exclusion. (Less)
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author
Veldkamp, Demi Amber LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Nightlife governance, urban safety, WPR, securitisation, neoliberalism, depoliticisation, Groningen
language
English
id
9240023
date added to LUP
2026-06-24 14:46:16
date last changed
2026-06-24 14:46:16
@misc{9240023,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines how safety is governed in urban policy by analysing the municipality of Groningen’s renewed Actieplan Veilig Uitgaan 2025. Bacchi’s What is the problem represented to be? (WPR) approach is applied to deconstruct how the action plan represents safety as a governance problem, what assumptions make this representation possible, and what is left unproblematised. The analysis draws on securitisation theory, neoliberal governance, and the concept of depoliticisation.
The thesis finds that the action plan represents unsafe nightlife as a consequence of individual “not normal” behaviour, to be solved through formulating a new norm. This representation rests on three assumptions: that governance oversight is necessary, that preventing disorder produces safety, and that “normal” is self-evident. These assumptions depoliticise safety by obscuring the power relations involved. What is left unproblematised, are the role of chain partners in producing unsafety, alternatives to the preventive gaze, and the exclusion of certain harms and perspectives. The thesis concludes by calling for repoliticising safety back into the radical roots of feminist and anti-racist struggles for safety that address structural inequalities of violence and economic exclusion.}},
  author       = {{Veldkamp, Demi Amber}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Governing Safety: Deconstructing “Safe Nightlife” in Groningen}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}