The Roles and Practices of Civil Society Actors in Police Reform in Kyrgyzstan: Activism, Expertise, Knowledge Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT The increasingly complex and differentiated field of security sector and police reform has given rise to extensive research into such processes, but also the stalemate and contradictions they are facing. Recent analyses have shown how civil society actors can successfully influence reform and hold authorities accountable, but are also facing limits in terms of their own expertise, capacity and representativeness. This article presents new evidence of interactions between civil society, state authorities and international organizations on the basis of participatory fieldwork and public discourse analysis in the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia. Taking particular interest in practices, expertise and knowledge production, I show how the organization in focus, an NGO network promoting alternative approaches to police reform, had to live up to different roles in trying to effect change: that of activists who mobilize popular support; of experts who apply novel, participatory community security approaches in piloting communities; and lastly, that of knowledge producers providing evidence of the need for reform. These roles and practices, and their implications for the network’s reform impact are critically assessed and, in conclusion, developed into the need for future research.