Policing Africa: Internal security and the limits of liberalization

Much has changed since the 1960s, but the institutional pillars of the post-colonial state remain recognizable. This is particularly noticeable in internal security, where there is evidence of both change and continuity. There was a shift in regime understanding of security after independence, but styles of policing in the intervening years suggest a significant degree of continuity. Based on the premise that police development mirrors state development, this paper suggests that the simplest models provide the clearest insight into the linkage between policing, political order, and institutional capacity. For they show that wars, liberalization, and international aid have left most police systems fundamentally unchanged; the nature and purpose of policing remains the same. The first major milestone in African policing was passed when politics moved from the colonial to the post-colonial state, but the second, marking a liberalization of institutional capacity, has yet to be reached.