Policing after state socialism

There are important divergences in how states experience state socialism (Bunce, 1999). Political and institutional choices made in advance of, during and immediately after the demise of a state-socialist regime can produce very different trajectories and outcomes (Fish, 1999). Nonetheless, certain important commonalities have been identified and abstracted from concrete historical formations, particularly in relation to ideology, structures of power and the relationships between state, party and mass organisations (Kornai, 1992). The police system, as a manifestation and fundamental element of state and party power, exhibits certain commonalities in relation to legitimacy, structure and function (Mawby, 2008). Depending on the nature of the transition away from state-socialism, these may continue to be evident in the subsequent police system. This chapter gives an account of socialist policing and, through an account of developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Poland, examines the impact of differences in transition upon police systems. A quick and clear transition in Poland can be contrasted with messier, conflict-affected transitions in post-Yugoslav Bosnia and post-Soviet Georgia, to show the importance of breakage as a mode of transitional change.