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Police commissioners, presidents and the governance of security

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2007

Alice Hills
Alice Hills*
Affiliation:
School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9RT, UK
*
Email: a.e.hills@leeds.ac.uk
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Abstract

Africa's police are usually assessed in terms of their adherence to democratic criteria. This results in inaccurate analysis because the police are actually governed according to presidential preference. This article uses the role of Africa's chief police officers to explore the relationship between presidents and their police, and the location of influence within the police. It identifies the significant variables shaping police governance in four countries with comparable institutional structures – Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe – and confirms the negligible role played by public accountability.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 403 - 423
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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