Liam O'shea Phd Thesis
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POLICE REFORM AND STATE-BUILDING IN GEORGIA, KYRGYZSTAN AND RUSSIA Liam O’Shea A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2014 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5165 This item is protected by original copyright POLICE REFORM AND STATE-BUILDING IN GEORGIA, KYRGYZSTAN AND RUSSIA Liam O’Shea This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University oF St Andrews Date of Submission – 24th January 2014 1. Candidate’s declarations: I Liam O'Shea hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 83,500 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in October 2008 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD International Relations in November 2009; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2008 and 2014. Date …… signature of candidate ……… 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD International Relations in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date …… signature of supervisor ……… 3. Permission for publication: (to be signed by both candidate and supervisor) In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: (I) Access to printed copy and electronic publication through the University of St. Andrews. Date …… signature of candidate …… signature of supervisor ……… Acknowledgements I would like to express my thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Rick Fawn and Prof. Andrew Williams, for their support and wisdom during the course of my studies. I am especially grateful to them for encouraging me to explore Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, and the Russian language, whilst helping me focus and strengthen the topic of my research. I also want to thank everyone at the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (CRCEES), based at the University of Glasgow, for providing such a wonderful place for discussion and collaboration. I am very grateful to the institutions and programs that funded my studies at St Andrews: the Economic and Social Research Council provided a generous grant and opportunities for extended fieldwork and language study. The School of International Relations at St. Andrews, the British Association for Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) and the British International Studies Association (BISA) provided further support. I am also obliged to staff at the Centre for Independent Social Research, in St. Petersburg, the Social Research Center, American University of Central Asia (SRC), in Bishkek, and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, in Tbilisi, for hosting me during my field research and for helping to contact respondents. I am indebted to over seventy respondents in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia for giving up their time and energy to help me understand the intricacies of policing and governance in the region. Without their help, this dissertation would not have been possible. This dissertation would also not have been possible without the friendship and support of many people whom I have been fortunate to spend time with, over the course of the PhD. My friends in Glasgow, especially Miguel Pineda, Ammon Cheskin, Jon Hounsome and Holly Porteous, have been great sources of both fun iii and support. Niall McDonough and Jules and Jon Ellis have also been incredibly helpful throughout the years, and wonderful friends. I also want to thank Michael Charno and Phil Hadley (and Jules!) for visiting me in Kyrgyzstan and Russia and I am only sorry that they both provided me with opportunities to witness petty police corruption, through no fault of their own. Finally, I am extremely thankful for the unconditional love of my family. Siobhan, Ronan and Mum have been encouraging and inspirational to me, in many various ways and Mum and Dad, not only shaped my thinking, but provided limitless kindness and affection. I am especially grateful to my amazing mother and, with the most heartfelt thanks, this dissertation is dedicated to her. iv Abstract This dissertation provides an in-depth study of police transformation in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It draws upon interviews with police, NGO workers, politicians and international practitioners, and employs a comparative-historical approach. Contra to democratic policing approaches, advocating the diffusion of police power and implementation of police reform concurrently with wider democratisation, reform was relatively successful in Georgia after the 2003 Rose Revolution because of state-building. The new government monopolised executive power, fired many police, recruited new personnel, raised police salaries and clamped down on organised crime and corruption. Success also depended on the elite’s political will and their appeal to Georgian nationalism. Prioritisation of state-building over democratisation limited the reform’s success, however. The new police are politicised and have served elites’ private interests. Reform has failed in Kyrgyzstan because of a lack of state-building. Regional, clan and other identities are stronger than Kyrgyz nationalism. This has hindered the formation of an elite with capacity to implement reform. The state has limited control over the police, who remain corrupt and involved in organised crime. State-building has not precipitated police reform in Russia because of the absence of political will. The ruling cohort lacks a vision of reform and relies on corruption to balance the interests of political factions. The contrasting patterns of police reform have a number of implications for democratic police reform in transitioning countries: First, reform depends on political will. Second, institutionalising the police before democratising them may be a more effective means of acquiring the capacity to implement reform. Third, such an approach is likely to require some sort of common bond such as nationalism to legitimate it. Fourth, ignoring democratisation after institutionalisation is risky as reformers can misuse their power for private interests. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... v Figures and Tables .............................................................................................................................. viii Notes on Transliteration and Translation.................................................................................... x Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................... xi Timeline of Major Political Events ............................................................................................... xiii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 – Methodology .............................................................................................. 24 Chapter 2 – The State and Barriers to Democratic Policing in Low- capacity States ......................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3 – Police ReForm and State-building ....................................................... 62 Chapter 4 – The Post-Soviet Policing Environment ............................................. 87 Chapter 5 – Police in the Former Soviet Union .................................................... 116 Chapter 6 – Revolution and ReForm in Georgia................................................... 149 Chapter 7 – The Transformation of the State and the Failure of Police ReForm in Kyrgyzstan and Russia ..................................... 188 Chapter 8 – A Benign Police State? State-building and Policing in Georgia aFter the Rose Revolution ................................................