The Journal of Progressive Human Services (JPHS) is inviting submissions for a special issue, themed: “The Politics of Policing: Global and Comparative Perspectives.” The Journal invites submissions from academics, scholar-activists, practitioners, and others with expertise in this area from both the Global North and South. Comparative analyses, including papers written from a transnational perspective, are encouraged but not required.
The Journal’s decision to dedicate a special issue to the politics of policing, reflects the growing attention globally to debates about everyday forms of criminalization and state surveillance, mass incarceration and social justice, discriminatory policing and the politics of urban violence, police reform, and abolitionist and transformative justice alternatives. JPHS’s interest in the politics of policing reflects the Journal’s commitment to understanding the systems, structures and mechanisms of power and violence (including those enforced by the state) that drive policing practices.
In this spirit, we invite interdisciplinary paper submissions in the broad areas noted above, including papers attending to intersections between gender, race, class, caste etc. To accommodate globally diverse analyses, submissions may be about policing as broadly defined, including political economy perspectives on state violence and motivations for policing in the context of neo-liberal development in contemporary Global South Cities.
While one of the primary objectives of the special issue is to attract studies that advance our understanding of the politics of policing in the Global South, Global North scholarship remains important to the JPHS editorial board. We also encourage inter-regional and transnational comparative analyses where relevant, given the notable and evolving parallels in policing practices and patterns across the globe. While these patterns may manifest uniquely today, we recognize they are not entirely new, and thus welcome historically grounded analyses.
With this as context, potential research themes for this special issue therefore include, but are not limited to:
For an overview of previous issues, please see: List of issues Journal of Progressive Human Services
Expected Publication Date: Summer 2023