The blurring border between the police and the military

Abstract

This review article reviews the current ‘state of the art’ and literature on the role of the police and military within the changing nature of internal and external security. Some scholars believe that the border between these two forces has recently begun to blur, whereas others strongly disagree. This article argues that the current debate lacks comprehensiveness and conceptual underpinning. It is suggested that definitional differences between the two forces should serve as the basis for detailed and comprehensive future case studies.

Insurgency and Civilian Policing: Organizational Culture and German Police Assistance in Afghanistan

“…Theoretically, little is known about how states deal with the problem of police -military role convergence. 99 Eclectic explanations are needed that integrate factors as different as threats, international norms, constitutional arrangements, and domestic culture and norms. 100 One of the main challenges future studies on security assistance are likely to encounter is to move from heuristic to predictive theorizing.…”

War Hypotheses: Drug Trafficking, Sovereignty and the Armed Forces in Mexico

“…International interference is endured as anathema, whatever the newfound importance of co‐operation might be. The latter also suggests that the militarisation process in Mexico is not completely a result of the disarticulation of the sovereignty–territory relationship (Weiss, ). On the contrary, the militarisation logic has a strong territorial component.…”

“…What is considered a threat has changed under a new national security paradigm (Andreas and Price, ; Vélez, ; Weiss, ). Massive migration flows, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental problems and international illegal activities (terrorism, drug trafficking and the trafficking of weapons, people and other goods) have all been included as national security threats in the international arena (Franko, ).…”

“…One implication of the reconstitution of sovereignty and national security threats is that the corresponding institutions need to restructure their objectives (Vélez, ). In the Weberian definition of the nation state, territory was used as a parameter to differentiate the roles of police forces and the army (Weiss, : 401). However, the transformation of security has blurred the distinction between these roles.…”

“…However, the transformation of security has blurred the distinction between these roles. This can even be observed in countries with strong socio‐democratic customs, which implies a weaker traditional division between internal and external security (Sheptycki, ; Zedner, : 54–60; Weiss, ).…”