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ABSTRACT
Democratic policing is a multidimensional, multilevel, and contested concept rooted in political ideology. It is not singular or politically neutral. I argue there are four typologies of democratic policing: right, centre-right, centre-left, and left. In Latin America, in the 1980s and 1990s, countries went through the dual processes of democratisation and the implementation of neoliberal economic policies. The latter increased inequality in wealth and led to deeply divisive debates regarding the place of equality and violence in the definition of democracy. Putting aside these debates on the meaning of democracy, police reform projects in Latin America have embraced community-oriented policing as synonymous with democratic policing. Yet, democratic policing is not a singular concept and political debates matter to its various meanings. The article uses Goertz’s (2006. Social science concepts: a user’s guide. Princeton University Press) three-level concept analysis to assess the theoretical similarities and differences between the four types of democratic policing. It then tests the theory with empirical data from the cases studies of Argentina (Menem and Kirchners) and Chile (Bachelet and Piñera). The case studies are informed by field research in both countries (2006–2015), and draw on media and human rights reports as well as secondary data. The study finds a gap between theory and practice that calls for more research on policy convergence. More importantly, it reveals the need to situate ideal definitions of democratic policing within political debates on democracy, paying close attention to the role of political ideology.
Acknowledgments
Thank-you to Guoguang Wu, Reeta Tremblay, Tina Hilgers, Arturo Alvarado Mendoza, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this article. Thank-you also to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for the funding for this and related larger projects.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Author interview. Victoria, BC-Washington DC via Skype. 12 June 2015.
2 Clarín. ‘Menem: no queda otra salida que la mano dura frente a la inseguridad’ 13 September 1998. URL: https://www.clarin.com/politica/menem-queda-salida-mano-dura-frente-inseguridad_0_BylWSkWkL3g.html [last accessed 15 September 2017].
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 World Bank's GINI Index (where 0 is perfect equality and 100 is perfect inequality) URL: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI.
6 La Tercera. ‘Presidente Piñera firma decreto que aumenta dotación de Carabineros’. 15 Februrary 2011. URL: http://www.latercera.com/noticia/presidente-pinera-firma-decreto-que-aumenta-dotacion-de-carabineros/ [last accessed 6 October 2017].
7 ámbito.com ‘Gobierno de Piñera denucia complot para generar violencias en marchas estudiantiles’ 19 October 2011. URL: http://www.ambito.com/607271-gobierno-de-pinera-denuncia-complot-para-generar-violencia-en-marchas-estudiantiles [last accessed 6 October 2017].
8 The law was ultimately rejected by the legislature in 2013.
9 EMOL ‘Presidenta Bachelet en aniversario de Carabineros: La sensación de seguridad debe ser igual para todos’. 27 April 2016. URL: http://www.emol.com/noticias/Nacional/2016/04/27/800022/Presidenta-Bachelet-en-aniversario-de-Carabineros-La-sensacion-de-seguridad-debe-ser-igual-para-todos.html [last accessed 19 September 2017].
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 La Nación. ‘Bachelet aumenta en 6.000 los Carabineros y anuncia Plan Cuadrante 2.0’ 25 April 2014. URL: http://lanacion.cl/2014/04/25/bachelet-aumenta-en-6-000-los-carabineros-y-anuncia-plan-cuadrante-2-0/ [last accessed 19 September 2017].
13 Molina, P. ‘Zaldívar reinvindica rol de Carabineros’. El Mercurio. 2 June 2006, p. C6. Also see Bonner (Citation2014).
14 Vergara, Rodrigo and águila, Francisco. ‘Gobierno prepara dura ley contra violentistas’. El Mercurio, 7 June 2006, p. C2.
15 Ámbito.com ‘Kirchner: La seguridad no se construye con un palo’ 7 September 2006. URL: http://www.ambito.com/294816-kirchner-la-seguridad-no-se-construye-con-un-palo [last accessed 19 September 2017]
16 At the current rate, the centre-right Mauricio Macri presidency will oversee a far greater proportion of police killings (Correpi Citation2018).
17 Lantos, Nicolás. ‘Agentes por gendarme’ Página/12, 28 February 2014. URL: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-240797-2014-02-28.html [last accessed 3 October 2017]. In 2014, the 4,000 gendarme added in 2013 were replaced with Buenos Aires Provincial Police officers.
18 LaPolíticaOnline ‘Operativo Cinturón del Sur’ 4 July 2011. URL: http://www.lapoliticaonline.com/nota/53565/ [last accessed 3 October 2017].
19 Author interview. Buenos Aires. 2 December 2009.
20 Author interview. Buenos Aires. 9 November 2009.