Summary
"My research addresses the gap in our knowledge of the bottom-up micro-level practice of co-governance by conducting ethnography of the lived experience of neighbourhood public meetings that were introduced as part of the Neighbourhood Policing programme within England and Wales. My methodology draws on critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2005a) in understanding the importance of identities in collaboration and the way that power dynamics are enacted within collaborative interactions. By providing evidence of locality differences and of nuanced embodied and relational identities within collaboration it contributes empirical depth to our knowledge of the situated practice of professionals, residents and elected representatives within the context of power-sharing and vertical coproduction. This highlights the importance of procedural, distributive and outcome justice in police-community engagement (Bradford 2011). It also contributes to current policy and practice debates in a number of ways: by making the case for the empowerment of disadvantaged communities as predicated by radical communitarianism (Braithwaite 2000); by demonstrating the relevance and importance of collective identities within co-governance (Emejulu 2011); and by exploring the difficulties faced by the police and public service officials in dealing with both citizens and elected representatives within co-governance (Yang 2005, Sullivan 2009). Finally it highlights the importance of the relationship between horizontal and vertical partnerships and how access to key decision-makers is vital for community co-governance to achieve any form of justice."--Abstract.