Policing and Political Violence

Abstract

The police are often key actors in conflict processes, yet there is little research on their role in the production of political violence. Previous research provides us with a limited understanding of the part the police play in preventing or mitigating the onset or escalation of conflict, in patterns of repression and resistance during conflict, and in the durability of peace after conflicts are resolved. By unpacking the role of state security actors and asking how the state assigns tasks among them—as well as the consequences of these decisions—we generate new research paths for scholars of conflict and policing. We review existing research in the field, highlighting recent findings, including those from the articles in this special issue. We conclude by arguing that the fields of policing and conflict research have much to gain from each other and by discussing future directions for policing research in conflict studies.

Delegating violence in democracies: embedded developmentalism and persistence of labor repression in South Korea

“…i.e., low-capacity, non-democratic politieswhich we find less theoretically puzzling (Radziszewski and Akcinaroglu, 2012;Avant and Neu, 2019;Eck et al, 2021).…”

“…Few studies have addressed the causal mechanisms shaping such theoretically ill-explained, yet empirically well-established patterns. Although there is growing work on the role of private security/military companies and related political violence, much of it is focused on cases in developing – i.e., low-capacity, non-democratic polities – which we find less theoretically puzzling (Radziszewski and Akcinaroglu, 2012; Avant and Neu, 2019; Eck et al ., 2021).…”

Does Police Militarization Increase Repression?

“…For scholars, our findings suggest an important omitted variable for existing models of repression in cross-national research designs. Until now, many of us have failed to account for the institution most directly involved with repression: the police (Eck, Conrad, and Crabtree 2021). But recent scholarship in comparative politics and other fields (Delehanty et al 2017; Magaloni and Rodriguez 2020; Revkin 2022) suggests we pay more attention to policing in cross-national models of human rights.…”

“…Does police militarization increase repression? 1 Until recently, policing institutions have been conspicuously absent from most cross-national work explaining variation in repression and human rights abuses (Eck, Conrad, and Crabtree 2021; Soss and Weaver 2017). 2 Many in that literature concerned themselves with constraining Leviathan (e.g., Moore 2010): Hobbes’ terrifying description of the state resulting from the social contract where individuals delegate security to an entity approaching all-powerful to live free from the constant worry of predation by their neighbor.…”

“…4 Instead of looking at how political and legal institutional design protects human rights (Chilton and Versteeg 2016; Cingranelli and Filippov 2010; Powell and Staton 2009; Welch, DeMeritt, and Conrad 2021), we assess the extent to which the militarized design of security institutions decreases protection. By doing so, we join those concerned with police and repression (Curtice 2021; Curtice and Behlendorf 2021; della Porta 2011; Earl, Soule, and McCarthy 2003; Eck, Conrad, and Crabtree 2021; Soss and Weaver 2017; Soule and Davenport 2009) by focusing on the militarization of the police. Much recent work explores the constabularization of military forces, wherein they perform policing duties for the sake of political order or control (Blair and Weintraub 2023; Durán-Martínez and Soifer 2021; Harig 2020; Passos 2021).…”