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A fighting fetish : On transnational police and their warlike presentation of self

Sausdal, David LU (2021) In Theoretical Criminology 25(3). p.400-418
Abstract

Transnational police readily use martial language in the stories they tell about their work. Their actual work, however, tells a different and less dramatic story. Why, then, do they insist on these warlike tales? Why is there a discrepancy between the self-representation of transnational policing and its reality? Using an ethnographic study, this article provides some answers. First, it includes an overview of three established explanations of the inclination of transnational police to represent their work in warlike terms. Next, an additional reading is presented. Building on Reiner’s discussion of “police fetishism”, this reading proposes that transnational policing actors have an idée fixe about their own professional inevitability.... (More)

Transnational police readily use martial language in the stories they tell about their work. Their actual work, however, tells a different and less dramatic story. Why, then, do they insist on these warlike tales? Why is there a discrepancy between the self-representation of transnational policing and its reality? Using an ethnographic study, this article provides some answers. First, it includes an overview of three established explanations of the inclination of transnational police to represent their work in warlike terms. Next, an additional reading is presented. Building on Reiner’s discussion of “police fetishism”, this reading proposes that transnational policing actors have an idée fixe about their own professional inevitability. They blindly believe that policing must exist, but also that it has to be done combatively to truly work. In conclusion, the article contemplates what the existence of such a “fighting fetish” means in both theoretical and reform terms.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
police culture, police fetishism, presentation of self, transnational ethnography, transnational policing, warfare
in
Theoretical Criminology
volume
25
issue
3
pages
400 - 418
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85104826236
ISSN
1362-4806
DOI
10.1177/13624806211009487
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a179ae15-e9e9-43a5-9337-25a2023e0d82
date added to LUP
2021-05-18 16:55:36
date last changed
2022-04-27 01:58:01
@article{a179ae15-e9e9-43a5-9337-25a2023e0d82,
  abstract     = {{<p>Transnational police readily use martial language in the stories they tell about their work. Their actual work, however, tells a different and less dramatic story. Why, then, do they insist on these warlike tales? Why is there a discrepancy between the self-representation of transnational policing and its reality? Using an ethnographic study, this article provides some answers. First, it includes an overview of three established explanations of the inclination of transnational police to represent their work in warlike terms. Next, an additional reading is presented. Building on Reiner’s discussion of “police fetishism”, this reading proposes that transnational policing actors have an idée fixe about their own professional inevitability. They blindly believe that policing must exist, but also that it has to be done combatively to truly work. In conclusion, the article contemplates what the existence of such a “fighting fetish” means in both theoretical and reform terms.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sausdal, David}},
  issn         = {{1362-4806}},
  keywords     = {{police culture; police fetishism; presentation of self; transnational ethnography; transnational policing; warfare}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{400--418}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Theoretical Criminology}},
  title        = {{A fighting fetish : On transnational police and their warlike presentation of self}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13624806211009487}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/13624806211009487}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}