Security Governance, Policing, and Local Capacity (Advances in Police Theory and Practice) - Hardcover

Froestad, Jan; Shearing, Clifford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1420090143 ISBN 13: 9781420090147

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

The security governance of South Africa has faced immense challenges amid post-apartheid constitutional and political transformations. In many cases, policing and governmental organizations have failed to provide security and other services to the poorest inhabitants. Security Governance, Policing, and Local Capacity explores an experiment that took place in Zwelethemba―located in South Africa’s Western Cape Province―to establish legitimate and effective nonstate security governance within poor urban settlements.

There has been, and continues to be, much reticence to endorsing private forms of security governance that operate outside of state institutions within local communities. Those initiatives have often led to situations where force is used illegally and punishment is dispensed arbitrarily and brutally. This book explores the extent to which this model of mobilizing local knowledge and capacity was able to effectively achieve justice, democracy, accountability, and development in this region.

Whenever possible, the book includes raw data and a thorough analysis of existing information on security governance. Examining this case and its outcome, the authors provide a theoretical analysis of the model used and present a series of design principles for future applications in local security governance. The book concludes that poor communities are a significant source of untapped resources that can, under certain conditions, be mobilized to significantly enhance safety. This volume is an important examination of experimental models and a presentation of new groundbreaking theory on engaging the local community in solving security governance problems.

About this title

About the Author

Jan Froestad is an Associate Professor at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen Norway.

Clifford Shearing is the Director of Centre of Criminology, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1420090143
• ISBN 13: 9781420090147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258