Plural Policing in Ivory Coast: Negotiating Security, Order, and Legitimacy

• In Event: Policy Panel: Plural Policing in the Global South: Navigating hybridity and security partnerships

Abstract

Policing, as broadly defined, involves organized activities that seek to ensure the maintenance of order, security, and peace through prevention, deterrence, investigation, and punishment (Baker, 2008). These activities were previously largely performed by the state policing agencies who were the sole providers of policing services. However, the trend has changed, and there are now multiple providers of security services, of which the public police are just one of the many providers in the market. In Ivory Coast, there are multiple different types of agencies providing security to the citizenry; these include, the Ivorian National Police, Vigilante groups, and the more than 400 private security companies that operate in the country. The use of these agencies is determined by accessibility, affordability, and perceived effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to explore plural policing in Ivory Coast and to understand how the various actors/ providers negotiate to provide security, peace, and maintain order in the country. Importantly, we will make effort to understand how Ivorians view the key players in the security sector – public police and private police and asses their levels of trust and confidence in these agencies.

Authors

• Francis Boateng, University of Mississippi

• Daniel Pryce, Old Dominion University

• Nabi Y. Doumbia, University Félix Houphouet-Boigny