The challenges of police-community collaboration: identity manoeuvres and power struggles in a neighbourhood based meeting

Abstract

The turn to collaborative governance is a key feature of the New Public Governance environment in many Western economies. Within the UK, successive governments have mandated policing organisations to engage in public service partnerships and collaborate with communities. This paper examines one such collaborative arrangement, namely, neighbourhood public meetings. Drawing on a theoretical framing of the dynamic relationship between identities, agency and power, we critically explore how individuals seek to persuade, defend and legitimate their values, beliefs and practices in collaborative situations. The paper provides a nuanced exploration of the challenges of collaboration for both public servants and community members.

Exploring resistance in collaborative forms of governance: Meaning negotiations and counter-narratives in a case from the Danish education sector

“…This is important if we are to better understand the generative, productive functions of resistance dynamics in collaboration; as such, this study also complements the few existing studies of discourse within CG (Hardy et al, 2005;Mangan et al, 2018;Purdy, 2012). In extension to these, we highlight that resistance in CG is not a question of accepting or rejecting collaborative ideals, or opposing a planned, linear process that develops solutions to be implemented (Kumar et al, 2007); rather, we show that CG are much more fragmented and precarious.…”

“…A few other studies likewise link the challenges of CG to (mis-)communication and discourse (Hardy et al, 2005;Koschmann et al, 2012;Mangan et al, 2018). Hardy, Lawrence and Grant (2005) develop a discourse model of identity and negotiations, arguing that collaboration "depends on the relationships among participating members, which are negotiated on an ongoing basis throughout the life of the collaboration.…”

“…Despite such potentials, there are also considerable challenges when a diversity of actors with different stakes collaborate to find solutions to such issues (Cinar, Trott, & Simms, 2019). A stream of governance studies particularly stress issues of social dynamics: tensions, conflicts, and (mis-)communication (Hardy, Lawrence, & Grant, 2005;Huxham & Vangen, 2000;Mangan, Thomas, Davies, & Gasper, 2018;Plotnikof, 2016b;Purdy, 2012). Despite this research on the challenges of public sector collaboration, resistance remains largely unexplored in the literature; when addressed, it is considered destructive misbehaviour (Kumar, Kant, & Amburgey, 2007).…”

Fitting In: The Double-Sided Work of Intermediating Social Innovation in Local Governance

“…Durose et al 2015). Even though multiple roles and relationships with other key actors are emphasised (Bartlett and Dibben 2002), this individualist focus tends to downplay the relational nature of front-line practices, identities, capacities and values (Bussu and Bartels 2014;Mangan et al 2018). Third, most studies take an interpretive approach to capture the situated agency of front-line workers (e.g.…”

“…By understanding these practices as relational (interactional and situated) processes, we can "chart how individuals seek to persuade, defend and legitimate positions in collaborative situations, drawing on a range of competing discourses." (Mangan et al 2018(Mangan et al , 1367. Their role, capacities, identities and values are not self-contained but always sustained and negotiated in relation to others and the (direct and wider) situation (Bartels 2017).…”