Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the interaction of police and citizen representatives during critical moments in reconciliation processes through a relational model.

Based on 26 in-depth interviews with key actors in three different cases of media-salient police-citizen group conflict, the interactions in the run-up to, during and after five moments that were critical in the transformation from conflict to cooperation, were analyzed. In focussing on the role of the intergroup relationship in conflict interaction, the applicability of relationship-value, compatibility and security in defining this relationship were explored.

Although interactions during critical moments differed along the specific conflict contexts, three chronological stages could be deduced. In the first stage, interactions were tensed and emotional. During the second stage, repressing this insecurity through the exchange of value and compatibility signals was important. In the third stage, the transformation toward friendlier, cooperative dialogue and a less tensed atmosphere was made. Emotional expression, information sharing and emphasizing compatibility seemed particularly important in (re)defining and negotiating police-citizen relationships.

In analysis, the authors had to rely on limited and retrospective accounts of interactions and attitudes and its indivertible errors.

This is one of very few studies that analyses police-involved post conflict interactions with a relational model. With regard to the importance of strong police-citizen relationships, the results should be of value to any operational police worker and specifically those who are involved in operational or strategic conflict-management and communication.

This study aims to review the psychosocial determinants of divorce and their effects on women for a social reform in Pakistan. Enigmatic societal standards vandalize social status of divorced women and stress them to experience psychological trauma that triggers psychosocial disorders.

The study is categorized into three major determinants: the human emotional, the formal legal and societal aspect(s) in association with the deferential social status of divorced women. Rapid evidence assessment methodology was used to search the all-inclusive literature, collate the available descriptive evidences, critically analyze and evaluate it, sieve out studies of penurious quality and provide an aperçu of the evidence.

The research evinces domestic violence and abuse as an endemic cause of divorce in Pakistan; emotional and psychological consequences of domestic abuse damage women’s self-worth and well-being. Literature reported that all these determinants impacted the mental health stability of the divorced women. Divorce rates are climbing at a faster pace in the country and Punjab has been identified as a province of rocketing divorce rate. Lamentably, in various villages of other provinces, women risk face mutilation if they show courage to seek divorce.

More research needs to be carried out on the issue nationwide. Fundamentally, cultural norms around women’s roles in society need to be addressed and challenged where this research may become an impetus for further research.

The paper contributes towards the redressal of the domestic abuse, social exclusion, marginalization and vilification of divorced women in Pakistan. The rising rates indicate an urgent need for social reforms to curtail offending behaviors toward them, to safeguard their mental health and well-being and to empower them with their legal rights to enjoy deferential social status in life.