Can colonial policing be reformed?

Zoha Waseem (University of Warwick, Urban Violence Research Network), Rahsaan Mahadeo (Department of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota) and Carrie Booth Walling (Human Rights Program, University of Minnesota) investigate the contemporary challenges around police reform and institutional transformation. First diving deep into police institutional culture in Pakistan as it has evolved since British colonial rule, Waseem will explore the roots of counterinsurgency policing and how these tactics connect to ongoing repressive practices against dissidents and critics in the region. Our panelists will also consider how postcolonial states have chosen to instill reforms selectively and block progress—maintaining the status quo, empowering the political elite, and limiting space for public accountability—and will highlight the roles civil society actors and political activists play in fostering institutional change.

Image: Activists in Peshawar, Pakistan, October 7, 2016. Credit PPI Images.