A Comparative Analysis of Democracy, Respect For Human Rights, and Democratic Policing Re- forms in Turkey and Fourteen Nations

This study is a cross-national exploration of the relation between democratic policing reforms and assessments of democracy and respect for human rights in Turkey and fourteen nations. It is based on the rich qualitative case studies of police organizational structures in these 15 countries, unique data made available in Turkey, comparative analyses of different types of regimes, reports of go-vernmental and non-governmental international organizations, and other secondary data analyses. The research seeks an understanding of two research questions: (1) To what degree are democratic policing reforms associated with the level of democracy and respect for human rights in a given country? (2) Which specific democratic policing reforms are most likely to be associated with higher levels of democracy and respect for human rights? With Turkey and each of 14 other coun-tries, we find a significant role in the rise of democratic policing reforms and assessments of the level of democracy and respect for human rights. Comparative analyses of democracy have given insufficient attention to police and policing organizations (Goldsmith & Sheptycki, 2007; Marenin, 2000; Pino & Wiatrowski, 2006). Analyses of democracy by international organizations, scho-lars, and human rights activists have become sophisticated and shrewdly loo