Democratizing the Police Abroad: What to Do and How to Do It

In the 1990s, reform of foreign police forces was widely recognized as necessary to support the expansion of democracy and to ensure a safe environment abroad for market economies. This research report examines the lessons that observers and participants have learned about the process of changing police organizations so as to support democracy. This research is based on studies of efforts to change police practices in the developed democracies, accounts of the experience with foreign assistance to police abroad under both bilateral and multilateral auspices, and accounts of the actions of nongovernmental human rights organizations to rectify policy abuses.