Conservatives and the Constabulary in Great Britain: Cross-Dressing Conundrums
The Politics of Policing: Between Force and Legitimacy
ISBN: 978-1-78635-030-5, eISBN: 978-1-78635-029-9
Publication date: 10 June 2016
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter is devoted to analysing the historical peculiarity of the contemporary British politics of policing.
Methodology/approach
Research is based on an analysis of policy statements and debates, news reports, and official statistics, in the light of historical studies of the earlier politics of policing.
Findings
The Conservative government’s police reform programme severely diminishes the resources, powers, status and independence of the police, reversing the Tory’s traditional unquestioning support of the police. The package is shown to reflect broader changes in political economy and culture under neoliberalism.
Originality/value
There has been no previous academic analysis bringing together the various aspects of the reform programme, contrasting it with previous historical understanding of the politics of policing, and linking it to broader contemporary change.
Keywords
Citation
Reiner, R. (2016), "Conservatives and the Constabulary in Great Britain: Cross-Dressing Conundrums", The Politics of Policing: Between Force and Legitimacy (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 79-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620160000021005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited