Policing and Religion in Tuvalu: Perspectives on Navigating Tensions Between Multiple Security Actors

Abstract

Although religious institutions are an important agent of non-state policing, especially in the Global South, there is a limited understanding of the relationship between religion and policing. The Pacific presents an ideal context in which to examine the relationship between religious and policing institutions in Christian majority postcolonial societies. Moreover, state and religious institutions in the Pacific Island States are currently being subjected to powerful processes, including economic liberalization, globalization, and localization/indigenization, producing both opportunities but also contestations and conflicts. Using interviews with police officers, religious leaders, and community leaders, this article examines how police officers negotiate the tensions between (secular) state law, indigenous structures of authority, and religious authorities in Tuvalu.