Security Sector Reform in Central Asia: Exploring the Policy-Practice GAP of Police Reforms and the Civil Society Factor in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
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2018-08-28
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en
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The aim of this master thesis is to analyse the gap between the prescribed policies and the actual practice of democratic governance of the police forces in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. This evidence-based assessment has been related to theoretical debates about Security Sector Reform, the current dominant concept within academic and international policy circles on security assistance that entails (re)building and professionalising security forces while creating democratic institutions and mechanisms to hold them controllable, transparent and accountable. I measured the progress or practice of police reforms with the following six qualitative indicators: #1 Public oversight and monitoring; #2 Integrity; #3 Participation of citizens and civil society; #4 Transparency; #5 Upholding the rule of law and human rights; and #6 Responsiveness to local citizens. Next to consulting online databases and reports, I conducted a number of interviews with local civil society representatives to indicate the rather limited progress of democratizing the police forces. Furthermore, it came forward that strengthening civil society alone will not be enough in a context where the Ministries of Internal Affairs, responsible for the policing services, are very resistant to any change and public support for democratic reforms remains too narrow.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen