How Politicization Affects Police-Society Relations: Evidence from Lebanon

• In Event: The Politics of Policing and Local Security Provision in the Global South

Abstract

What are the effects of the politicization of state security agencies on state-society relations? Based on archival police records and over 120 interviews with citizens, civil society activists, and former security sector employees in Lebanon, I argue that the politicization of state security agencies along sectarian lines has had three major consequences. First, it increases distrust of the agencies by non-coethnics. Second, when security institutions become clientelist resources, employees appointed via patronage must weigh their professional roles with their obligations to the political party that secured their employment. This can create biased or mediated access to policing and help. Finally, the politicization of security institutions undermines the overall public order by blurring mandates, and creating both overlaps and gaps in security provision.

Author

• Kelly Stedem, Roanoke College