Order in the Year of Law Enforcement: Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea's diverse problems of order are symptomatic of the dislocative impact of broader processes of change in its distinctive social environment. Law enforcement agencies have become progressively overwhelmed by the demands placed on them and the serious shortage of public resources. This has led to the massive growth of private policing and increasingly militarised responses on the part of the state. In practice these responses often have counter-productive outcomes and have, in many cases, themselves become part of the problem.