In the APSA Public Scholarship Program, graduate students in political science produce summaries of new research in the American Political Science Review. This piece, written by Monique Newton, covers the new article by: Yanilda González, Harvard University and Lindsay Mayka, Colby College: “Policing, Democratic Participation, and the Reproduction of Asymmetric Citizenship”.
In the 1990s, some Brazilian cities became renowned for their efforts to deliver more participatory democracy as the number of participatory forms of decision making grew substantially in the few decades since the return to democratic rule in 1985. The increase in participatory democratic institutions in Brazil during this time is generally considered a good aspect of Brazilian governance. Brazil’s participatory institutions are not just considered good for governance—they are seen as an exemplary model for the world. However, has this increased democratic participation reduced inequalities in citizenship often produced by policing? In their recent APSR article, Yanilda González and Lindsay Mayka find that expanded democratic participation in policing can reproduce rather than alleviate unequal policing.
González and Mayka draw on fieldwork conducted during 2010-2012 and 2017-2019 in São Paulo, Brazil. Fieldwork included observation of 34 monthly meetings of 12 Sao Paulo Community Security Councils (CONSEG). CONSEGs are an important space for ordinary citizens to engage with local police commanders and other officials charged with guaranteeing their security. Observations of the CONSEG Coordinator’s office were also included in the fieldwork. CONSEGs were chosen across various zones of the city of São Paulo to ensure variation in racial and class dimensions. Across both periods, González and Mayka conducted 72 interviews with CONSEG community leaders, police officials, and representatives of marginalized groups and collected 793 meeting minutes for 87 CONSEGs in Sao Paulo.
In the article, the authors define participatory security institutions as formal spaces for citizen participation in policing. They argue that democratic participation of this kind produces asymmetric citizenship, which occurs when expanding rights for some citizens is achieved through restricting citizenship rights for others. For some, participatory security institutions can provide access to the state and facilitate government responsiveness. However, expanded citizen participation in policing often generates demands for control of marginalized groups.
González and Mayka propose three mechanisms by which participatory security institutions lead to this result. First, participatory security institutions define advantaged groups as virtuous citizens while labeling marginalized groups as security threats. In each of the 87 COSEGs they analyzed, at least one marginalized group was framed as a security threat. Second, institutions like CONSEG effectively act as a gatekeeper and work to amplify the voice of virtuous citizens while silencing those labeled as security threats. Lastly, participatory security institutions produce asymmetric citizenship by articulating demands for police action against security threats while reaffirming the protection of virtuous citizens.
CONSEGs do not expand the experience of citizenship equally for all. Increased citizen participation may reproduce abuses against marginalized groups. Participatory institutions in policing reproduce structural inequality by threatening bodily harm of marginalized groups to protect privileged groups. Democratizing policing through citizen participation may generate new forms of inequality. This outcome contradicts participatory democracy’s goal of addressing inequalities. Reformers advocating for increased community participation to address police violence should proceed with caution, as expanding participation in policing can reproduce police misconduct against marginalized groups.
- Monique Newton is a 4th-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University, where she studies American Politics and Political Methodology. Her research interests lie at the intersection of urban politics, race and ethnic politics, political behavior, and political psychology. A mixed-method scholar, she employs ethnographic, interview, survey, and experimental methods to examine Black political behavior in American cities in the United States. Her dissertation project explores how Black neighborhoods in the United States respond to the killings of Black Americans by police officers. She currently resides in Chicago, IL.
- GONZÁLEZ, YANILDA, and LINDSAY MAYKA. 2022. “Policing, Democratic Participation, and the Reproduction of Asymmetric Citizenship.” American Political Science Review
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