and clans. They became such an effective form of social and criminal control they were eventually absorbed into the state as an arm of community policing. Though there is some criticism that their absorption represented a co-option of
their locally grounded roots, Heald (
2009
) argues that ultimately they have transformed state power at the local level into one that is more responsive to local concerns. She writes:
Communities have taken back power, developed their own policing capacity and, in so doing, effectively reinvented themselves…In the same way, perhaps they have reformed
and reclaimed the state, with the administration demonstrating an increasing responsiveness to the priorities of local communities, and allowing them a greater degree of autonomy in the management of their own affairs (p. 78).
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