Tracing the Diffusion of Policing Governance Models from the British Isles and Back Again: Some Directions for Democratic Reform in Troubled Times

Abstract

Developing robust police governance structures has long been understood as the best institutional means to foster trusting police–community relationships. The ideological question of where to draw the line dividing responsibilities for overseeing and shaping policing has perplexed policymakers and policing practitioners for decades. The issue of determining who should govern policing and towards what ends has been compounded by the resurgence of non‐state policing agencies in our times. This paper looks to the history of the diffusion of policing governance models from Britain throughout its once vast Empire and the case of recent ‘radical’ experiments in Northern Ireland in pondering the prospects for the development of democratic policing systems.

Keywords:

• Nodal Policing
• Accountability
• Reform
• Police Science
• Politics of Policing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Kempa

Michael Kempa is a lecturer at the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology at the University of Melbourne. He is particularly interested in the political contests that surround alternate policing forms. Building upon many journal articles, his first book on these matters (co‐authored with Professor Clifford Shearing) will be published by Routledge in the coming year.