A cross-national study on public confidence in police

Abstract

Levels of public confidence in police vary greatly internationally, yet little is known about the causes of this variation. At the same time, studies demonstrate that public confidence in the police is a requirement for police effectiveness. It is therefore critical to develop a better understanding of the factors that influence public perceptions of the police. In this dissertation, I investigate public confidence in the police and seek to identify country-level factors which contribute to its variation cross-nationally. I approach this study from Rawls' conception of political legitimacy. I hypothesize that level and stability of democracy in government increase confidence in the police, while government corruption lowers this confidence. I further hypothesize that these effects are particularly exaggerated among ethnic minority groups. To test these hypotheses, I conduct a cross-national, multi-level study on the impact of individual and country-level factors on public confidence in the police. This study includes more countries, more recent data, and a larger range of country-level explanatory variables than any existing cross-national research on confidence in the police. In order to take a deeper look at the importance of government context for public confidence in the police over time, I also undertake a case study of two new democracies, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. I compare public confidence in the police in these nations to that in an older, more stable democracy, the United Kingdom.