Politicians and police in the face of democratic change in Chile and Colombia

• In Event: Police under shocks. Studying police systems in crisis comparatively.

Abstract

Changes in the political context create the conditions to place police reform processes on the political agenda. Reform initiates often arise out of transitions from military regimes to democratic governments, from revolutionary regimes to liberal democracy, or processes of constitutional change that enable the civil authority to seek to strengthen its control over police leadership. In Latin America, the end of authoritarian regimes and other important political transformations have sparked civil pressure for the police to transform. Our work addresses the police responses aiming to enhance their influence on the reform processes to which they are subject. We are particularly interested in researching how these police strategies develop and identifying the mechanisms that put them into practice, as well as their impact on police-government relations. One of our focuses will be the analysis of the interaction between different groups within police and the processes through which they resolve their conflicts and implement common strategies to preserve police autonomy.

Authors

• Antonio Frey, Universidad Del Desarrollo, Facultad de Gobierno

• Hugo Frühling, Facultad de Gobierno, Santiago, Chile