Citation

Wozniak JSG. Int. J. Comp. Appl. Crim. Justice 2019; 43(4): 341-355.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society of Criminology's Division of International Criminology, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis)

DOI

10.1080/01924036.2019.1602548

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A central aspect of post-conflict policing literature holds that the new force must differentiate itself from its predecessor. In the efforts to democratize Iraqi police, trainers and recruits alike espouse lofty ideals regarding who should join and how police should behave. However, these ideals are directly contradicted by low qualification levels and the public behavior of police. Drawing from an intensive ethnographic study of police training in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), I argue that while having broken from the forced conscription of the Hussein era, the new force is staffed by economic conscription, comprised of reluctant volunteers who joined to escape poverty and receive little training on the new responsibilities of democratic police. While the methods of conscription have changed, the results remain the same - a force comprised largely of people who do not want to be police and who do not respect the rights of citizens.

Language: en

Keywords

economic conscription; Iraq; neo-liberalism; Police reconstruction