Intersection of Formal and Informal Control in Urban Neighbourhoods Prospect of Democratic Policing in Pakistan
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Intersection of Formal and Informal Control in Urban Neighbourhoods Prospect of Democratic Policing in Pakistan A thesis submitted for Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology February 2020 Nauman Aqil Summary This research studies the intersection of formal and informal social control processes in two high crime and two low crime neighbourhoods in the cities of Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan. The comparative case study design explores the significance of ethnic heterogeneity, political capital, social cohesion, and spatiality in explaining the neighbourhoods’ crime levels. Moreover, this study highlights the existential value of informal networks and kinship in preventing victimisation and nurturing survival in uncertain political and economic conditions. It further demonstrates that, in context of minimal state efficiency, social order is negotiated on the principles of expediency and accommodation. In particular, this study indicates that, when faced with mistrust of state institutions and selective fatalism, arising from economic vulnerability and chronic misgovernance, residents are willing to overlook some of the crimes which do not affect the harmony and stability of their neighbourhoods. By examining the ways in which social control is configured between the police and moral entrepreneurs in highly stratified neighbourhoods, this study stipulates that the optimum outcome of such an arrangement is most likely the maintenance of the status quo. Nonetheless, this study notes the limits of informal control mechanisms when these mechanisms are not buttressed by the agents of formal control or when the sheer intensity of crimes warrant self-preservation and inaction. Furthermore, this study illustrates that the legacy of colonialism lives on not only within the police forces but also within the public imagination. Consequently, the police are expected to behave in a repressive and highhanded manner, especially when dealing with offenders. Given this public conception of the police, this study discusses the grim prospects of the Western notion of democratic policing in Pakistan. Finally, this study raises questions in terms of applicability of some Western constructs and methodological tools in studying crime and policing in Pakistan. ii Contents Summary ............................................................................................................. ii List of Tables and Figures .................................................................................... vi Acknowledgments ............................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 Situating the Study .............................................................................. 1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 2 Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 4 Defining social control ......................................................................................................... 6 The social construction of crime and delinquency .............................................................. 7 Control of problems ........................................................................................................... 13 Control of people ............................................................................................................... 16 Control of places ................................................................................................................ 23 Intervening processes ........................................................................................................ 28 Democratic Policing ........................................................................................................... 30 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2 Research Design and Field Experiences .............................................. 33 The Chicago School ............................................................................................................ 34 Tools ................................................................................................................................... 38 Selection of study sites ....................................................................................................... 38 Sampling ............................................................................................................................. 41 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 42 Ethical considerations ........................................................................................................ 43 Field experiences ................................................................................................................ 44 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3 Context ............................................................................................. 55 Karachi ............................................................................................................................... 55 Lahore ................................................................................................................................ 63 Context of Policing in Pakistan ........................................................................................... 68 Chapter 4 Two communities in a tangle: The high crime neighbourhood in Lahore73 From glory to insignificance ............................................................................................... 74 A friendly market ................................................................................................................ 76 Reign of Robbers ................................................................................................................ 80 Another world .................................................................................................................... 86 iii Established and Outsiders .................................................................................................. 89 Tolerance of deviance ........................................................................................................ 92 A fortress ............................................................................................................................ 95 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 5 What causes no crime: The low crime neighbourhood in Lahore ........ 99 Defining crime .................................................................................................................. 101 A political hotcake ............................................................................................................ 105 An extended family .......................................................................................................... 108 Parochial order ................................................................................................................. 113 Policing for the sake of policing ........................................................................................ 116 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 120 Chapter 6 Surviving against odds: The ‘low’ crime neighbourhood in Karachi ... 121 Anomalous effects of Ethnic Heterogeneity ..................................................................... 124 A not so low crime neighbourhood .................................................................................. 127 Construction of fear ......................................................................................................... 128 Crimes perpetrated from neighbouring neighbourhoods ................................................ 129 Our own criminals ............................................................................................................ 131 Politics of Homicide and Extortion ................................................................................... 133 Three facets of informal social control ............................................................................ 135 What the police think they do .......................................................................................... 141 What people think about the police ................................................................................. 143 Intervention: No one wants it .......................................................................................... 145 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 145 Chapter 7 A promised land: The ‘high’ crime neighbourhood in Karachi ........... 147 Shireen Jinnah Colony: A place unknown to Karachiites .................................................. 148 Transporters: Negotiating Coexistence ............................................................................ 151 A foiled attempt ..............................................................................................................