Building a Global Police Studies Community

Abstract

Policing has become decentered from the state as substate and transnational developments have shifted some of the roles and authority for policing to new social and international groups and agencies. At the international level, a number of regime communities (e.g., scholars, nongovernmental organizations, police leaders, transnational policy makers, and policy think tanks) have actively promoted the emergence of a democratic, international policing regime and its adoption by states and police forces in transitional, failed, and developed countries. Recent developments are described, and their implications for the practices and the study of policing are assessed.