Introduction

Abstract

Police reform is one of the most crucial and challenging undertakings in any society. It is particularly challenging, however, in conflict situations where the police have often perpetrated serious human rights violations. Many scholars and practitioners from various fields of study have explored internationally assisted police reform projects: These initiatives are often launched in post-conflict situations to enforce the role of law, accountability, and transparency. These police efforts imply a sudden change facilitated through external agents. Yet the theoretical debates on police reform have overlooked gradual institutional change within police departments during conflicts. Undoubtedly, the existing gap arises from the assumption that when confronted with domestic security challenges such as terrorism and insurgency, governments often do not have the political and economic incentives to initiate police reform. This study contributes to existing studies on historical institutionalism by tracing the antecedent historical processes and causal mechanisms that paved the way for gradual displacement of the Turkish National Police (TNP) from the military in the early 1980s.KeywordsEuropean UnionPolice OfficerCivil Society ActorTurkish StateTurkish GovernmentThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.