Craig Browne is a senior lecturer in sociology and social policy at the University of Sydney.Justine McGill is a provisional psychologist at the University of Melbourne Psychology Clinc.

• Violence and the postcolonial welfare state in France and AustraliaCraig Browne and Justine McGill Framing violence: an ethnographic perspective on riotingGillian Cowlishaw In the Northern Territory intervention: what is saved or rescued and at what cost?Irene Watson The state’s intervention in Indigenous affairs in the Northern Territory: governing the Indigenous population through violence, abuse and neglectDeirdre Howard-Wagner The powerlessness of the powerful: riots as counter-violenceJustine McGill Colonial violence and postcolonial FranceRobert Aldrich Violence, identity and the postcolonial French stateElizabeth Rechniewski Violence and disrespect in the French revolt of November 2005Emmanuel Renault The violence of radicalisation: the 2005 riots as eventDidier Fassin Enacting half-positions: creative disrespect in the 2005 French riotsCraig Browne and Phillip Mar Note on contributorsIndex