Abstract
In an earlier publication by one of this book’s co-authors, it was forewarned that ‘The global cops cometh’ (Sheptycki, 1998). In this latest work, written by two pioneers of the research field, it is confidently asserted that the global cops have indeed arrived. While Bowling and Sheptycki readily recognize the limited prospects for the emergence of anything that resembles a global police force, they proceed to demonstrate authoritatively how global policing—that is, those policing activities that lay claim to global reach and import—is not only a reality, but is also a significant cause for concern.
This excellent book represents much more than a welcome synthesis of, and addition to, the increasing literature on transnational policing. It is emblematic of the maturity that has been attained by this research field. In distilling the body of empirical work that has been conducted on this topic, and reflecting on its theoretical and practical implications, the authors elevate what might previously have been considered a niche specialism within the sociology of policing to a new, more central, status. As is reiterated throughout this text, the impact of global policing is not only evident in police action at the transnational level, but also shapes multiple facets of everyday policing across the world. After all, much local policing is now contingent upon transnational connections, whether in terms of the intelligence upon which it relies, the training that it receives, the formal and informal collaborative links that it develops or the security threats that it seeks to address. Furthermore, thinking in terms of global policing has profound implications for the manner in which policing is theorized since it presents new challenges. In particular, it begs the question: how might democratic accountability be imposed upon policing actors who have largely carved out their own operational space in the regulatory gaps of the transnational-state-system?
In conveying a new global appreciation of policing, this book is an exemplary exercise in scholarly efficiency: it is concise and accessible, yet it is still conceptually engaging. It promotes novel perspectives which productively interact with classic policing theory, effectively deploying a range of techniques—from typological constructions to practical examples—that convey the complexity of its subject matter but still make it more readily understood. In five substantive chapters, it presents a cohesive and cogent analysis of the complex and liquid assemblage that is global policing.
Chapter 1 outlines the conceptual framework for subsequent analysis by integrating a range of theoretical perspectives on policing, with insights drawn from disciplinary fields that include globalization, governance, international relations and legal theory. Accompanying typologies serve to contextualize this theoretical inquiry, identifying those actors who populate the global policing field, as well as the diverse institutions to which they belong. Chapter 2 traces the evolutionary path of policing under the effects of globalization to reveal how a polycentric global order has catalysed a novel developmental trajectory for policing. Essentially, key drivers of policing change are now located outside the structures of the nation-state. While specific attention is devoted to transnational policing arrangements that have emerged from European and American contexts, the authors draw attention to the diversity of auspices for global policing action. Their consideration of this complex policing web is further enhanced in Chapter 3 as they examine key institutional arrangements across a range of strata—global, regional, national and ‘glocal’—as well as accounting for the crosscutting contribution of private actors. It is noteworthy that this discussion includes some of the less acknowledged global policing actors, such as the World Customs Organization and ASEANAPOL (the regional policing body for South-East Asia); the latter of which presents a very different prospect from its more heavily researched European counterpart. In Chapter 4, the authors delve deeper into this phenomenon, progressing beyond the visible institutional faces of global policing to scrutinize its underlying occupational subcultures. This is a fundamental aspect of the analysis since Bowling and Sheptycki argue that these subcultures are the glue that bonds the fragmented global policing project together. International liaison officers are identified as key facilitators in the dissemination of these common norms as well as acting as an important operational lubricant for transnational policing action. While they may represent the paradigmatic example of a global policing agent, the authors proceed to set out eight archetypal forms for the ‘globo-cop’: technician; diplomat; entrepreneur; public relations expert; legal ace; spy; field operator; and enforcer. Unfortunately, the play in which these dramatis personae are cast is ultimately a tragedy for the global commonwealth. They are protagonists in the diffusion of a transnational subculture of policing that has attained a degree of ‘bureaucratic autonomy from the state’ (p. 98), having been able to harness strategically their transnational condition to evade accountability, define arbitrarily security agendas and foster a global discourse of insecurity. This depressing reality is compounded in Chapter 5’s analysis of the policing of key transnational spaces (borders, oceans, cyberspace and mega-events). While each presents unique challenges, the manner in which they are all policed displays an overwhelming tendency for ostensibly noble ambitions to be contorted towards the strategic interests of the powerful. Considerations of global justice, harm prevention and humanitarianism may be harnessed for legitimacy but, in real terms, they will usually remain secondary motivations. Indeed, when it comes to global policing interventions in weak states, the authors reiterate the overwhelming track record of failure and the sad reality that these ‘policing practices often produce more serious harms than they prevent’ (p. 127). If there is any hope to re-write this bleak narrative of global policing, the authors assert that it would lie in a dramatic shift in the transnational subculture of policing and its re-orientation towards a new set of values.
This outstanding study emphasizes how global policing represents a vast web of power within which coercion and surveillance are conducted by policing agents, who not only operate with increasing global mobility, but who are also connected by technology, complex institutional links and shared subcultural values. In Global Policing, Bowling and Sheptycki have made an invaluable contribution to debates of policing, as well as to those of global governance. With wide interdisciplinary relevance, this book will lend itself to both the researcher and the student. While it is likely to become core reading for many policing modules in the future—and not just those with a global/transnational bent—it is equally expected to be the first book chosen from the shelf for academics investigating the global policing field. This book might not provide a detailed roadmap for their future research journey, but it is certainly an invaluable empirical and theoretical compass to guide them through these, often uncharted, transnational spaces.