Beth K. Greener, The New International Policing

Abstract

The modern police, as an institution, is the creation of nineteenth-century nation-states and empires. According to the liberal point of view, the police are involved in domestic politics while the military fights against external enemies. This functional separation between two coercive apparatuses formed the very foundation of the modern state. Yet, in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War, the blurring of boundaries between the police and the military accelerated. One of the consequences of this convergence was that the role of the police in international operations has grown in an exclusive way. Now, it is contended that the police have become an international actor. In other words, the role of the police is not limited to law enforcement on a domestic level; rather the police are responsible for assuring global order. The increasing role of the police as an international actor has raised many questions and challenges. Greener’s book The New International Policing conducts a theoretical debate on the emerging role of the police, sets forth a general overview of international policing from a historical perspective, and questions the new international policing by focusing on case studies from Kosovo to Afghanistan.