The public in the exorcism of the police in Mozambique: Challenges of institutional democratization

This paper examines the role played by the public sphere in demanding the t ransformation of the police in line with the nascent democratic principles in Mozambican society, it examines the state-centric promotion of good gove rnance through enhancing the technical quality of decision-making in the po lice and focuses in particular on the role of the public sphere and popular culture in transforming the institution of the police. The paper examines newspaper stories about the police and shows how these are interpretative c ultural forms that are widely disseminated as part of dynamic social interc ourse. Thus the primary data for this study are the created and expressive materials about the police that the new media in Mozambique disseminates in its fight against anti-democratic practices in the police. Stories written about the police, being genuinely popular and socially and aesthetically s ignificant, may be understood as parr of the domain of popular culture.