Establishing police authority and civilian compliance in post-apartheid Johannesburg: an argument from the work of Egon Bittner

Journal article

Egon Bittner's seminal insight is that a precondition of democratic policing is a demand for it among the general population. What happens when that demand is absent? What happens, in other words, when the general population withdraws its consent to being policed? I explore this question in the context of post-apartheid Johannesburg, where compliance with police authority is patchy. I argue that there is a strong relationship between non-compliance and the density of public space, that patrol...

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Authors: Steinberg, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: POLICING and SOCIETY
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 481-495
• Publication date: 2012-01-01
• DOI: 10.1080/10439463.2011.641552
• EISSN: 1477-2728
• ISSN: 1043-9463
• Language: English
• Keywords: police authority; Egon Bittner's theory of police; civilian non-compliance; Johannesburg; disorder