POLI 365 - Policing from a Global Perspective

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

In this seminar, we analyze policing from a global perspective. Employing a range of political theories, including liberalism, decolonial theory, and (neo)Marxist approaches, students will explore the promises and pitfalls for building safer and more equitable public security forces. What are the enduring legacies of imperial policing regimes across Anglophone, Francophone, and American states? Are police forces a distinctly domestic institution, or is there a global governance of policing? We start by analyzing the historical origins of policing, paying particular attention to the Anglophone and European Continental policing models. We then assess the role of global actors, including empires, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations in the major periods of police reform and change, including the 20th century professionalization movement, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, the post-George Floyd moment, and recent militarized immigration enforcement. Some key case studies include French policing in pre-independence Algeria, US global police training during the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, and the 2020 EndSARS protests in Nigeria. Students gain an expanded understanding of policing as a multifaceted institution and practice with meaningful (though at times cyclical) variation across time and in different countries. The Department.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS