Police and Masculinities in Transition in Turkey: From Macho to Reformed to Militarized Policing

Abstract

Policing is a gendered and gendering institution. However, the centrality of masculinities to the reproduction of public policing has received little scholarly attention. Drawing from fieldwork, including thirty-five in-depth interviews with police officials between 2013 and 2015, this study explores how public policing and police masculinities have shaped and influenced one another during Turkey’s move away from the established principles of electoral democracy as part of what I refer to as its “authoritarian relapse.” The study finds that macho and militarized masculinities constitute two distinctive modes of police masculinity against which the reformed masculinity of the “new police” stands in stark contrast. It contributes to debates on political masculinities by demonstrating the intertwining of state and masculine power. The analysis suggests that police masculinities and public policing take shape in line with the degree of commitment to democratization.