Publisher: Berghahn Books (February 1997)
ISBN: 1571818731
Synopsis
The role of the police has, from its beginnings, been ambiguous, even janus-faced. This volume focuses on one of its controversial aspects by showing how the police have been utilized in the past by regimes in Europe, the USA and the British Empire to check political dissent and social unrest. Ideologies such as anti-Communism emerge as significant influences in both democracies and dictatorships. And by shedding new light on policing continuities in twentieth-century Germany and Italy, as well as Interpol, this volume questions the compatibility of democratic government and political policing.
Reviews
"a fascinating collection of essays that explores a variety of, mainly European, political police agencies ... with particular reference to the period since 1920." ― Intelligence &National Security, 13.4
"an important contribution to the theorisation and systematisation of the sociology of policing."
--Laura Kalmanowiecki, American Journal of Sociology (1998)