Policing in Divided Societies: Theorising a Type of Policing

• NCJ Number: 131905
• Journal: Policing and Society Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: (1991) Pages: 179-191
• Author(s): J D Brewer
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: An earlier version was presented at a conference on divided societies organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa, Bonn, 9-13 September 1989.

Annotation

Policing in divided societies is different from policing in integrated or homogeneous societies.

Abstract

Divided societies such as Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Fiji, South Africa are those with deep-rooted conflict between distinct subgroups. Subgroups are defined by religion, race, ethnicity or national origin. No society is fully integrated or without conflict, but in divided societies the conflict is less institutionalized, more violent, and pandemic. Policing in these societies is marked by selective enforcement favoring the dominant group. Police give excessive attention to the behavior of minority or subordinate groups and align themselves politically and militarily to uphold the status quo. Effective mechanisms for public accountability do not exist, and police are relatively unrestrained in their use of force. The groups' attitudes toward the police become polarized, thus agencies become unable or unwilling to recruit from the minority groups. Police tend to reproduce the conflict; they themselves are part of it rather than neutral arbiters. 27 references (Author abstract modified)