Liam O'Shea - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Liam O'Shea
Conflict, Security & Development
The Journal of power institutions in post-soviet societies, 2012
Reform has been relatively successful in Georgia because, after the Rose Revolution, the new gove... more Reform has been relatively successful in Georgia because, after the Rose Revolution, the new government used its dominance of the state to fire a huge number of officers, purge the old leadership, and instigate a crackdown on police corruption and links with organised crime. This took place in the background of a strong public demand for reform and a state-building process which dramatically reduced public sector corruption and altered state-society relations. In Kyrgyzstan and Russia, neither top-down nor bottom-up pressure has manifested itself into political pressure for reform. In the former, the state has been highly contested and powerful factions have competed to use it to extract resources for their own benefit and/or those of their constituents. In Russia, the state is more stable, but the leadership lacks the know-how or the willingness to implement meaningful reform. Instead of reform being imposed upon each country’s Ministry of Interior, reforms have been co-opted by elements within the ministries, with the result that they have been ineffective.
liamoshea.co.uk
One of the biggest barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration is that academics from different d... more One of the biggest barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration is that academics from different disciplines and sub-‐disciplines do not understand each other's research. This lack of understanding occurs because the manner in which scholars manage and explain the ...
Policing, 2009
International police reform missions have largely underestimated the time and resources needed to... more International police reform missions have largely underestimated the time and resources needed to successfully transfer policing norms to recipient police forces. Successful reform is extremely complex and contingent on local norms of justice and political situations. It should not be ...
Europe-Asia Studies, 2012
Brian Taylor's book offers a valuable overview of the impact of President Putin in his first two ... more Brian Taylor's book offers a valuable overview of the impact of President Putin in his first two terms-Putin I, as it were-on state capacity in Russia. The topic could hardly be more salient, given that a standard view of Putin at home and abroad is that he succeeded in restoring political order to a Russia that had been subjected to a variety of centrifugal forces in the 1990s, including misguided, corrupt and incompetent economic reforms, and severe social dislocations. Putin's entourage of course strongly encourages the popular impression of a Russia under Yeltsin that was rife with excesses-of poverty, corruption, inequality, crime, a state falling apart into regional fiefdoms and oligarchic empires. A strong hand, Putin's team emphasized, saved Russia by restoring Russia's sovereignty at home and abroad. They would claim that the thriving economy, rising living standards, rebuilt military power, and restored executive hierarchy justified Putin's use of harsh measures. This impression has been challenged by a number of authors. Taylor assesses it empirically by drawing a distinction between "state capacity"-the ability of the state to get its policies carried out-and "state quality"-the state's ability to use its coercive power in such a way as to improve public welfare. This is a useful distinction, allowing Taylor to argue that state capacity is not much improved under Putin and that state quality has in fact declined. In some areas (such as the overall level of violence in the North Caucasus), it can be argued that Putin improved state capacity. The state's ability to apply coercion for repressive and predatory purposes has also increased, although that is hardly beneficial to popular well-being. On the other hand, the state's ability to enforce property rights impersonally, to curb abuses of power by the police, or to reverse the trend toward increasing corruption has declined under Putin. Taylor makes a convincing case for his argument that the patrimonial patterns characteristic of Russian state bureaucracy have continued, that Putin has not improved the ability of either state or society to check the arbitrary abuses of power by the agencies of coercion, or to transform the culture of the coercive agencies in such a way as to replace predation, repression, and corruption with professionalism and a devotion to the rule of law. Taylor uses the agencies of coercion-the "silovye struktury"-as his basis for assessing state capacity and state quality. These are central elements of state capacity since they reveal how the state uses its coercive power. They are particularly relevant in the case of Russia under Putin
Informal Economies in Post-Socialist Spaces
Informal economic activities have long been embedded within the Kyrgyz police, as they have throu... more Informal economic activities have long been embedded within the Kyrgyz police, as they have throughout police organizations in the former Soviet Union (FSU), but the nature and extent of these have expanded since the collapse of the USSR. After gaining independence, officers’ involvement in informal economic activity has continued and increased because of their own precarious economic positions, the lack of state capacity to control and incentivize them, and the long history of economic informal activity within the police and society more generally. The provision of police services in Kyrgyzstan has increasingly become marketized as state control over the economy and political arena has weakened, and actors with money, most notably organized crime groups and elements from within the police, control large aspects of informal activity. For example, junior officers provide their superiors with a proportion of the money they acquire via bribery in a systematized pyramid of informal exchange. However, police and less powerful social actors also use informal economic means to provide police services. Where the state is unable and/or unwilling to do so, and at the same time retains an excessively regimented legal framework, lower-status social actors use informal economic activity to provide basic services and to circumvent excessive legal requirements and punishments.
Finally, I am extremely thankful for the unconditional love of my family. Siobhan, Ronan and Mum ... more Finally, I am extremely thankful for the unconditional love of my family. Siobhan, Ronan and Mum have been encouraging and inspirational to me, in many various ways and Mum and Dad, not only shaped my thinking, but provided limitless kindness and affection. I am especially grateful to my amazing mother and, with the most heartfelt thanks, this dissertation is dedicated to her.
This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly... more This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly the relationship between policing and democracy is examined. While international missions have been successful in supervising police agencies to support emerging democracies, their power and influence means they can become an obstacle to police forces responding to needs articulated by local citizens. Secondly, the wider political context is of major importance, and so technical reforms without democratic state-building are of limited value. Finally, where international deployment is appropriate, suitable pre-mission training on different understandings of the police role, working across languages and cultural differences, is essential to maximise effective and legitimate delivery of police assistance.
This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly... more This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly the relationship between policing and democracy is examined. While international missions have been successful in supervising police agencies to support emerging democracies, their power and influence means they can become an obstacle to police forces responding to needs articulated by local citizens. Secondly, the wider political context is of major importance, and so technical reforms without democratic state-building are of limited value. Finally, where international deployment is appropriate, suitable pre-mission training on different understandings of the police role, working across languages and cultural differences, is essential to maximise effective and legitimate delivery of police assistance.
Conflict, Security & Development
The Journal of power institutions in post-soviet societies, 2012
Reform has been relatively successful in Georgia because, after the Rose Revolution, the new gove... more Reform has been relatively successful in Georgia because, after the Rose Revolution, the new government used its dominance of the state to fire a huge number of officers, purge the old leadership, and instigate a crackdown on police corruption and links with organised crime. This took place in the background of a strong public demand for reform and a state-building process which dramatically reduced public sector corruption and altered state-society relations. In Kyrgyzstan and Russia, neither top-down nor bottom-up pressure has manifested itself into political pressure for reform. In the former, the state has been highly contested and powerful factions have competed to use it to extract resources for their own benefit and/or those of their constituents. In Russia, the state is more stable, but the leadership lacks the know-how or the willingness to implement meaningful reform. Instead of reform being imposed upon each country’s Ministry of Interior, reforms have been co-opted by elements within the ministries, with the result that they have been ineffective.
liamoshea.co.uk
One of the biggest barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration is that academics from different d... more One of the biggest barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration is that academics from different disciplines and sub-‐disciplines do not understand each other's research. This lack of understanding occurs because the manner in which scholars manage and explain the ...
Policing, 2009
International police reform missions have largely underestimated the time and resources needed to... more International police reform missions have largely underestimated the time and resources needed to successfully transfer policing norms to recipient police forces. Successful reform is extremely complex and contingent on local norms of justice and political situations. It should not be ...
Europe-Asia Studies, 2012
Brian Taylor's book offers a valuable overview of the impact of President Putin in his first two ... more Brian Taylor's book offers a valuable overview of the impact of President Putin in his first two terms-Putin I, as it were-on state capacity in Russia. The topic could hardly be more salient, given that a standard view of Putin at home and abroad is that he succeeded in restoring political order to a Russia that had been subjected to a variety of centrifugal forces in the 1990s, including misguided, corrupt and incompetent economic reforms, and severe social dislocations. Putin's entourage of course strongly encourages the popular impression of a Russia under Yeltsin that was rife with excesses-of poverty, corruption, inequality, crime, a state falling apart into regional fiefdoms and oligarchic empires. A strong hand, Putin's team emphasized, saved Russia by restoring Russia's sovereignty at home and abroad. They would claim that the thriving economy, rising living standards, rebuilt military power, and restored executive hierarchy justified Putin's use of harsh measures. This impression has been challenged by a number of authors. Taylor assesses it empirically by drawing a distinction between "state capacity"-the ability of the state to get its policies carried out-and "state quality"-the state's ability to use its coercive power in such a way as to improve public welfare. This is a useful distinction, allowing Taylor to argue that state capacity is not much improved under Putin and that state quality has in fact declined. In some areas (such as the overall level of violence in the North Caucasus), it can be argued that Putin improved state capacity. The state's ability to apply coercion for repressive and predatory purposes has also increased, although that is hardly beneficial to popular well-being. On the other hand, the state's ability to enforce property rights impersonally, to curb abuses of power by the police, or to reverse the trend toward increasing corruption has declined under Putin. Taylor makes a convincing case for his argument that the patrimonial patterns characteristic of Russian state bureaucracy have continued, that Putin has not improved the ability of either state or society to check the arbitrary abuses of power by the agencies of coercion, or to transform the culture of the coercive agencies in such a way as to replace predation, repression, and corruption with professionalism and a devotion to the rule of law. Taylor uses the agencies of coercion-the "silovye struktury"-as his basis for assessing state capacity and state quality. These are central elements of state capacity since they reveal how the state uses its coercive power. They are particularly relevant in the case of Russia under Putin
Informal Economies in Post-Socialist Spaces
Informal economic activities have long been embedded within the Kyrgyz police, as they have throu... more Informal economic activities have long been embedded within the Kyrgyz police, as they have throughout police organizations in the former Soviet Union (FSU), but the nature and extent of these have expanded since the collapse of the USSR. After gaining independence, officers’ involvement in informal economic activity has continued and increased because of their own precarious economic positions, the lack of state capacity to control and incentivize them, and the long history of economic informal activity within the police and society more generally. The provision of police services in Kyrgyzstan has increasingly become marketized as state control over the economy and political arena has weakened, and actors with money, most notably organized crime groups and elements from within the police, control large aspects of informal activity. For example, junior officers provide their superiors with a proportion of the money they acquire via bribery in a systematized pyramid of informal exchange. However, police and less powerful social actors also use informal economic means to provide police services. Where the state is unable and/or unwilling to do so, and at the same time retains an excessively regimented legal framework, lower-status social actors use informal economic activity to provide basic services and to circumvent excessive legal requirements and punishments.
Finally, I am extremely thankful for the unconditional love of my family. Siobhan, Ronan and Mum ... more Finally, I am extremely thankful for the unconditional love of my family. Siobhan, Ronan and Mum have been encouraging and inspirational to me, in many various ways and Mum and Dad, not only shaped my thinking, but provided limitless kindness and affection. I am especially grateful to my amazing mother and, with the most heartfelt thanks, this dissertation is dedicated to her.
This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly... more This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly the relationship between policing and democracy is examined. While international missions have been successful in supervising police agencies to support emerging democracies, their power and influence means they can become an obstacle to police forces responding to needs articulated by local citizens. Secondly, the wider political context is of major importance, and so technical reforms without democratic state-building are of limited value. Finally, where international deployment is appropriate, suitable pre-mission training on different understandings of the police role, working across languages and cultural differences, is essential to maximise effective and legitimate delivery of police assistance.
This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly... more This briefing provides an overview of recent research on International Police Assistance. Firstly the relationship between policing and democracy is examined. While international missions have been successful in supervising police agencies to support emerging democracies, their power and influence means they can become an obstacle to police forces responding to needs articulated by local citizens. Secondly, the wider political context is of major importance, and so technical reforms without democratic state-building are of limited value. Finally, where international deployment is appropriate, suitable pre-mission training on different understandings of the police role, working across languages and cultural differences, is essential to maximise effective and legitimate delivery of police assistance.