Policing interwar Europe: continuity, change and crisis, 1918-40

Abstract

The convulsions of the First World War left considerable economic, social and political instability in their wake, bringing with them significant challenges to the various regimes of Interwar Europe. As a result, great emphasis was placed on the need to maintain order as well as to reform the apparatus of the state to meet the demands and expectations of their populations. One of the most crucial institutions for achieving these aims was the police, as their loyalty to a regime, as well as their commitment to its ideology and policies, could prove instrumental in the success of that regime's objectives and, ultimately, its survival. Policing Interwar Europe contains studies of ten different countries facing similar problems in distinct circumstances, and provides an unique opportunity for comparing how the various regimes of the period attempted to cope with the issues of policing, protest and public order