Is there a "Hispanic" or "Iberian" tradition when it comes to policing? Scholars often speak of an "Anglo-Saxon" tradition of policing, and how this was linked intimately with the democratic development of its constituent countries. The creation of police forces was an integral part of state construction, and for establishing the relationship between the state and society. The tumultuous modern history of Spain, Portugal and Latin America has resulted in the police occasionally taking an active part in political process.
History has provided numerous examples where this intervention was a significant factor in the outcome of a particular event, most notably the military coup that sparked the Spanish Civil War and as well as those that brought numerous regime changes in Latin America. That this still occurs can be seen by the recent attempted police coup against President Rafael Correa in Ecuador. Moreover, scandals arising from instances of police violence or abuses often have a more profound impact on perceptions of a government’s legitimacy and the state of democracy in a given country, in ways not felt in "Anglo-Saxon" nations.
Despite the importance often given to the actions of the police, as well as the policies of governments towards dissent, such issues remain relatively neglected in the scholarly literature. This state of affairs is in stark contrast to the wealth of studies on the police and law-and-order in "Anglo-Saxon" countries; which is all the more apparent when it is considered that the Iberian community of nations (those where either Spanish or Portuguese are the hegemonic language) is, by several counts, second in number only to that of Chinese.
Nonetheless, this conference is not an attempt to create a one-size-fits-all view of the Ibero-American world, or to revive old and deeply-embedded conceptions both inside and outside the Ibero-American world of a peculiar Latin or Hispanic "problem" in adapting to "modernity". If anything, it seeks to break old stereotypes about it in the hope that it will enrich views and provoke new debates and research, particularly in relation to the police and law-and-order (as well as the related issues of State and Society, political evolution and democratic reforms).
By involving experts from a variety of disciplines (History, Criminology, Political Science, Development Studies), it will yield the benefits of different approaches and perspectives, allowing for breadth of vision as well as adding specific contexts to what has been a long-standing and on-going issue in much of the Ibero-American world.
This conference is co-sponsored by The Anglo-Spanish Society thanks to our generous donors, both corporate and individual.
Details:
Date: 10 May 2011
Venue: Second Floor, Stewart House, 32 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5DN
This event is free and open to the public.
In order to assist with the planning, the organizers ask that all of those who are interested in attending please send an email to Gerald Blaney at G.J.Blaney@lse.ac.uk
Conference schedule:
9:30 Tea
10:00 Opening of Conference
10:15 Gonçalo Goncalves (Open University) – "Lessons from Abroad: Cristóvão Morais Sarmento and the Reform of the Portuguese Police in the late 19th century"
10:45 Gerald Blaney (LSE) – "The ‘Failures’ of Police Reform under the Second Spanish Republic, 1931-1936"
11:15 Discussion
11:45 Break
12:00 Chris Birkbeck (University of Salford) – "The Police on the Public Stage: A Comparison of the Latin America and North American Press"
12:30 Fiona Macaulay (University of Bradford) – "Cycles of ‘Mission Creep’ between the Brazilian Armed Forces and the State-level Military Police"
13:00 Discussion
13:30 Lunch
15:00 Oscar Jaime-Jiménez (Gabinete de Estudios de Seguridad Interior – GESI, Madrid & Universidad Pública de Navarra) – "New Order, Old Guard: The Spanish Police and post-Franco Transition to Democracy"
15:30 Francisco Arenosa (Cuerpo Nacional de Policía. Dirección General de la Policía y de la Guardia Civil. Madrid) – "Reforming the Police: The Inside Story"
16:00 Discussion
16:30 Closing Remarks
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