Conclusion: The Mirage of Transnational Policing

Abstract

This book has argued for a radical rethinking of transnational policing that builds on what is essentially a very simple idea: the study of policing cannot be separated from an understanding of the key institution that secures capitalist rule in society, the state, and the study of transnational policing cannot be separated from a study of the processes that involve states in the reproduction of capitalist power at worldwide level. The case on which this idea has been put to work, the story of the Mirage Operations that emerged from the last three chapters, is markedly different from any account that explanations advanced so far in the study of transnational policing would be able to offer. The first three chapters of this book have explained why such a difference should exist. But it is now possible to take stock and ask: what sort of story is it? What do we learn from it?