Community policing and the politics of local development in Tanzania

Bibliographic Data

ID4250996
AuthorsCharlotte Cro (0000-0002-1491-6306, University of Northampton, corresponding author), Charlotte Cross
Year2014
Volume52
Issue4
Pages517-540
Publication date2014-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Modern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-278X • E-ISSN: 1469-7777
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022278x14000433
OpenAlexW2121593947
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited38

This paper explores how the concept of 'community policing' has been understood and implemented in Tanzania. Whilst community policing is locally considered to be a very effective means of preventing crime and improving neighbourhood safety, the extent to which it constitutes a more accountable, responsive or 'democratic' form of policing, as assumed by proponents, is questionable. Based on research conducted in the city of Mwanza, this paper explains these outcomes in terms of continuities between forms of popular mobilisation that developed during Tanzania's socialist one-party era, and particularly the co-optation by the ruling party ofsungusunguvigilantism, and understandings of the role of citizen participation in local development today. However, this paper suggests that as multiparty political competition becomes increasingly competitive, the sustainability of this model of community policing may be undermined, as citizens challenge the notion that they are obliged to provide resources for development directed from above

Community development · Community policing · Competition (biology) · Democracy · Neighbourhood (mathematics) · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Sustainability · Tanzania · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Public Administration · Sex work and related issues

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