Explore the vast range of titles available.

Following their 2016 visit to the USA, the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concern regarding the “alarming levels” of police brutality targeting African Americans. Made visible by Black Lives Matter since 2013, the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and a number of other victims mobilized communities and gained national media coverage. Still, killings continued, as did unjustified detentions, police harassment and violence, taking thousands of lives and impacting “all levels of the lives of African Americans” with almost total impunity, the Working Group concluded.

Far from merely repressive, the police play an active role in the reproduction of capital and in shaping modern society, which makes the concept of police \"part of the conceptual and theoretical arsenal of Marxism.\" In turn, the development of a critical theory of police that addresses the role of police institutions in exercising state power and assisting the reproduction of capital draws on state theory and the broader project of the Marxian critique. This critique of police calls into question views of the police as law enforcers. Seen in a critical light, uniformed street cops expose the surface of a broad governing apparatus comprised of higher level offices and policymaking that are connected through \"agencies of policing situated throughout the state.\" Here, Seri aims to show that a materialist state theory needs to include a theory of police power. The police's imbrication with capitalist production has yet to be acknowledged as part of a general theory of the state.

This essay maps the transformation of security from a symbol of authoritarian government under the Cold War paradigm of National Security into a public good and a policy field acknowledged as legitimate and democratic by politicians and policy experts. Using present-day Argentina as an example, we show how security ideas gain dominance across the political spectrum, displacing and subordinating democratic politics conceived in terms of rights. As institutions increasingly accept security measures and pre-emptive risk management, a securitising discourse – despite its claims to advocate for the ‘citizen’ – trumps governance and the rule of law. Appealing to citizens’ concerns and rights, the new forms of securitisation may yet undermine democratic life. Este ensayo traza la transformación de la seguridad desde símbolo de gobiernos autoritarios bajo el paradigma de la Seguridad Nacional durante la Guerra Fría en un bien público legítimo y en campo de políticas con credenciales democráticas. Utilizando como ejemplo a la Argentina de hoy, mostramos cómo las ideas de seguridad ganan terreno en espectro político, desplazando y subordinando a las políticas democráticas concebidas en términos de derechos. A medida que las instituciones incorporan medidas de seguridad y el manejo preventivo de riesgos, a pesar de sus promesas de ‘ciudadanía’, un discurso de securitización se impone sobre el gobierno y el estado de derecho. Apelando a los temores y derechos ciudadanos, las nuevas formas de securitización continúan minando la vida democrática. Este ensaio mapeia a transformação da segurança de símbolo de um governo autoritário sob o paradigma de Segurança Nacional da Guerra Fria a um bem público legítimo e um domínio de política pública que reivindica credenciais democráticas. Usando a Argentina de hoje como exemplo, demonstramos como ideias de segurança ganham domínio ao longo do espectro político, deslocando e subordinando políticas democráticas idealizadas em termos de direitos. À medida que instituições cada vez mais acomodam medidas de segurança e gerenciamento preventivo de risco, apesar de suas promessas de ‘cidadania’, um discurso de securitização avança sobre a governança e o Estado de direito. Apelando aos interesses e aos direitos dos cidadãos, as novas formas de securitização podem novamente debilitar a vida democrática.

This is one of the world's great centers of lawlessness... . Every criminal activity that you can possibly think of flourishes here, from drug and arms trafficking to money laundering, counterfeiting, carjacking, contraband and prostitution.

My study began with the claim that no political regime can be truly democratic until policing becomes so. Despite the recent spread of democratic regimes in the world, episodes of police violence and authoritarian practices of policing continue thriving and undermining democracy. The democratization of policing requires democratizing the use of discretionary power which occurs in the gaps and glitches of the law. My study characterizes police power as a type of governing power, at once executive, judicial, and quasi-legislative. Police power needs to be studied by students of democratization. I question representations of the rule of law that inspire most views on policing in political science, and propose to recuperate a classical understanding of the law that incorporates discretionary judgment. At the heart of my argument lies the concept of police discretion, which I understand as theoretically rooted in the notion of sovereign power and regulated through legitimizing narratives. Engaging in a critical dialogue with the work of Aristotle, Foucault, and Agamben, I approach policing as a capillary form of state sovereignty and the most literal expression of governance. Narratives inform the action of those who police us. They provide the raw material for the exercise of discretionary judgment. My study combines the review of canonical and postmodern works in political theory with a comparative empirical approach to examine narratives on policing and police discretion. It is my contention that narratives, stories, and tropes make a crucial difference in forms of exercising police discretion. By drawing on both theory and empirical data, I identify narrative elements informing practices of policing. To use discretion democratically is to interpret interstices and glitches of the law in an inclusive manner that draws on egalitarian beliefs. The comparative analysis of police narratives drawn from over 70 tape-recorded interviews with police officers from Argentina, Uruguay, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States gives empirical support to my argument. The analysis of interviews serves to map police narratives in different contexts. Certain narratives seem to reproduce globally. My study stresses the specificity of the political and governing aspects involved in policing.