This course introduces British policing as part of an imperial project. How did formal policing first emerge across Britain and its Empire, and what did it have to do with capitalism and racial hierarchy? How were techniques of surveillance, collective punishment and violence developed in the colonies — and how did they come home? From the suppression of anti-colonial resistance to the contemporary wars on 'gangs' and 'terror', these lectures trace the deep connections between policing, racism and state repression.
Led by Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London, the course asks what the history of colonial policing means for abolitionist movements fighting for justice today.
Lecture 1: Policing, Colonialism and Racial Hierarchy
Why did formal policing emerge in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? This opening lecture places British policing in its imperial context, exploring how the protection of capitalist property and the maintenance of racial hierarchy were built into the institution from the very start — and how popular culture obscures this history.
Lecture 2: Decolonisation, Violence, Hearts and Minds Policing
How did colonial administrations try to win over colonised populations while violently repressing resistance? This lecture examines the combination of coercion and consent deployed during anti-colonial wars — from surveillance and collective punishment to the role of racism in justifying police violence both at home and abroad.
Lecture 3: Colonial Policing Comes Home
How did the tactics developed to police the colonies make their way to the British mainland? This lecture traces the transfer of counterinsurgency methods from Ireland and the Empire to Britain's postcolonial migrant communities — and explores how those communities understood, critiqued and resisted racist policing.
Lecture 4: Postcolonial Policing in 21st Century Britain
How do colonial racisms continue to shape policing today? This lecture examines how racialised categories like 'gang crime' and 'terrorism' drive contemporary policing, how new technologies deepen discriminatory practices, and how these evolving forms of state violence are being challenged and critiqued.
Lecture 5: From anti-colonialism to abolitionism
What connects the movements against colonial slavery and imperial rule to today's demands for police and prison abolition? This final lecture traces the thread from anti-colonial and Black Power politics to twenty-first century abolitionism, and asks what it means to demand the end of the carceral state in Britain.
Complete the course and get the chance to join a live online session with Adam on Wednesday 16th September at 7pm.
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