This important collection of essays breaks new ground in looking at the major role played by the colonial police forces in establishing and maintaining imperial authority.Policing the Empire highlights the centrality of the maintenance of law and order to the authority of the British Empire. A uniformed and disciplined body of paramilitary police, charged with imposing alien law and establishing and extending new measures of social control was one of the first bodies set up by colonial rulers. Nor did this significant role diminish after the initial establishment of imperial government. The structure, manning and role of police forces had an enduring influence on the conduct of colonial rule, from Ireland to India, and Australia to West Africa. The contributors also show how the experience of early colonial forces in India and the colonies of white settlement substantially shaped the development of police forces in the later colonies of Asia and Africa.This book adds greatly to our knowledge of how the British Empire was established, how its authority was maintained an how it functioned. It is essential reading for all those involved in the scholarly study of Empire, especially undergraduates of legal and social history. Policing the Empire will also appeal to general readers with an interest in imperial history.
