Normative and instrumental judgements of policing and their relative impacts on police empowerment during protracted conflict

ABSTRACT Why do citizens living under conditions of protracted conflict empower the police with greater discretionary authority? Relying on survey data of community perceptions, this study compares the relative impact that normative and instrumental judgements of policing have on the public’s willingness to empower the police with greater discretionary authority in a context of protracted conflict located in sub-Saharan Africa. Results from this study of 323 residents living in Kismayo city in southern Somalia suggest that both normative and instrumental judgements matter for empowering police to fight crime. Moreover, the perception that the police are representative of local clans is also significantly associated with police empowerment. Accordingly, these findings suggest support for the notion that there does not always exist a “zero-sum game” between normative and instrumental judgements, particularly in a sociopolitical context little studied within the policing literature.