We are going to prove we are a civil and developed country: the cultural performance of police legitimacy and empire in the Iraqi state

Possessing a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, police are central to the establishment of state legitimacy, especially in a nation experiencing a radical reconstruction. Employing a multi-method examination of a police training academy in Iraqi Kurdistan, this study investigates how a nascent...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wozniak, Jesse S.G. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2017, Volume: 57, Issue: 4, Pages: 906-923
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Iraq
Police reconstruction
Imperialism
Cultural performance
Irak
Polizeiaufbau
Description
Summary:Possessing a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, police are central to the establishment of state legitimacy, especially in a nation experiencing a radical reconstruction. Employing a multi-method examination of a police training academy in Iraqi Kurdistan, this study investigates how a nascent state attempts to secure hegemony in a post-conflict environment. Drawing upon literature of state legitimacy and empire, findings suggest the reconstruction is better understood as a cultural performance designed to project legitimacy for an imperial client state, helping explain the continued instability of the state and rise of dangerous non-state actors.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azw046