Bayley’s six critical elements of democratic policing: evaluating donor-assisted reform in Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine

ABSTRACT David Bayley’s pioneering book “Changing the Guard: Developing Democratic Police Abroad” provided scholars and practitioners across the globe with strategies found most effective in supporting police reform in developing countries. This article re-examines Bayley’s six critical elements of developing democratic policing through the lens of the reform processes in Georgia, Ukraine, and Armenia. This cross-case comparison demonstrated that contemporary reform programmes are largely supportive of the six key strategies proposed in Changing the Guard. Specifically, Bayley’s recommendations on finding the right officers and focusing on fair procedures as perceived by citizens were predictive of the success and failure of reform in Georgia, Ukraine, and Armenia. Moreover, Georgian and Ukrainian reform over the last decade appear to have reached the limits to their narrow approach towards democratic policing by not prioritising Bayley’s calls for independent police oversight or leadership training for management.