डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्‍वविद्यालय दिल्ली
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi
Established by The Government of NCT of Delhi

Course coordinator and team: Pooja Satyogi

1. Does the course connect to, build on or overlap with any other courses offered in AUD?

Policing sits at the heart of modern societies, shaping how states exercise authority, maintain order, and define citizenship. Yet it is also an institution marked by deep historical legacies, everyday practices of discretion, and complex relationships with the public it is meant to serve. This course introduces students to the social, political, and ethical dimensions of policing, examining how police institutions emerge, evolve, and operate across different contexts. Through historical analysis, theoretical debates, and ethnographic perspectives, we explore the ways in which policing both reflects and produces broader structures of power, inequality, and governance. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to critically analyze contemporary issues—including police reform, accountability, violence, security, and global policing—while situating them within their wider social and political frameworks.

2. Specific requirements on the part of students who can be admitted to this course: (Pre requisites; prior knowledge level; any others – please specify)

No requirement

 

3. No. of students to be admitted (with justification if lower than usual cohort size is proposed):

As per AUD rules

 

4. Course scheduling: (summer/winter course; semester-long course; half-semester course; workshop mode; seminar mode; any other – please specify)

Semester-long course

 

5. Proposed date of launch:

2018

6. How does the course link with the vision of AUD?

This course speaks to the question of justice in a university named after Dr B. R. Ambedkar by taking seriously his insight that justice must be evaluated through the everyday operations of state power, not only its constitutional promises. By tracing the evolution of policing from its colonial origins to contemporary practices, the course exposes the structural continuities that shape how different citizens experience the state—an approach central to Ambedkar’s insistence that social democracy cannot exist alongside institutionalised forms of hierarchy and humiliation. The theoretical and ethnographic readings push students to interrogate how law is implemented, how authority is legitimised, and how inequality becomes embedded in routine police work. In doing so, the course equips students to critically analyze the moral and political foundations of state coercion and to imagine forms of accountability aligned with Ambedkar’s vision of justice as dignity, equality, and the protection of the most vulnerable.

 

7. How does the course link with the specific programme(s) where it is being offered?

Policing and Society exemplifies the interdisciplinary ethos of the School of Legal and Socio-Political Studies. Moving from formal legal frameworks—such as the Police Act, Supreme Court judgments, and reform reports—to sociological and historical accounts of institutional evolution, the course situates policing within broader structures of power It pairs these with political-theoretical debates on force and legitimacy and with ethnographic studies from India, France, Gaza, and Taiwan that reveal how policing is lived, negotiated, and normalized. This integration of law, sociology, political theory, and anthropology trains students to analyze statutes alongside fieldnotes and institutional history alongside theories of violence. In doing so, the course becomes an intellectual hinge within the department, demonstrating how multiple disciplinary lenses enrich our understanding of policing as a key institution of modern governance.

8. Course Details:

 

1. 1. Course Summary

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of policing as a historical, institutional, theoretical, and ethnographic field of study. Beginning with the development of police institutions in India, the course traces how colonial logics, bureaucratic structures, and postcolonial reforms have shaped contemporary policing practices and cultures. It examines key debates on police accountability, impunity, political order, and the persistent gap between reform mandates and institutional realities.

Building on this foundation, the course turns to major theoretical frameworks that have shaped scholarly understandings of policing—from Marx, Benjamin, Foucault, and the Comaroffs to contemporary critical criminology. Students engage with how police power becomes central to theorizing the state, authority, legitimacy, and the capacity to use force.

The course then introduces the emerging field of the anthropology of policing, foregrounding ethnographic approaches to security, governance, and the everyday life of police institutions. Through global case studies—India, France, Gaza, and Taiwan—students examine how policing is shaped by political histories, democratic formations, conflict, and social inequalities.

In its final module, the course addresses contemporary issues such as suspicion, profiling, counter-terrorism, global policing networks, and the political production of the “other” as a target of security operations. By integrating historical, theoretical, and ethnographic perspectives, the course equips students to critically analyze policing as a central institution in democratic and non-democratic societies alike.

 

• 2. Objectives
• By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Understand the historical development of police institutions in India, including the colonial origins of policing, the bureaucratic structure that emerged after independence, and ongoing debates on police reforms and accountability.
• Analyze major theoretical frameworks of policing, including Marxist, Foucauldian, and critical criminological perspectives, and evaluate how these theories illuminate the relationship between police, state power, and social order.
• Examine the role of violence, legitimacy, and political authority in shaping police practices across different time periods and governance contexts.
• Engage with anthropological approaches to policing and security, understanding how ethnography reveals the complexities of police work, state practices, and everyday governance.
• Compare police practices across diverse global contexts—including India, France, Gaza, and Taiwan—to understand how political systems, conflict, and social hierarchies shape policing.
• Assess contemporary issues in policing, including profiling, the proliferation of suspicion, counter-terrorism practices, global policing networks, and the production of “threat” categories.
• Develop critical skills in reading scholarly literature, synthesizing arguments, and connecting empirical studies with broader conceptual debates on state power and governance.

 

• 3.  Outcomes
• Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain the institutional evolution of policing in India, demonstrating knowledge of colonial legacies, postcolonial reforms, and current debates on police impunity and accountability.
• Critically evaluate key theoretical perspectives on policing, showing how conceptions of force, sovereignty, discipline, and social order inform scholarly analyses of police power.
• Interpret and analyze ethnographic studies of policing, identifying methodological challenges and conceptual contributions across different political and cultural contexts.
• Compare policing practices across varied geopolitical environments, recognizing how regime type, conflict, and social structures shape law enforcement and security operations.
• Assess how contemporary policing is shaped by suspicion, surveillance, terrorism discourses, and global information-sharing practices, and evaluate their implications for civil liberties.
• Articulate how police practices intersect with broader issues of governance, legitimacy, gender, class, caste, race, and political authority.
• Synthesize theoretical, historical, and ethnographic materials to generate well-supported analytical arguments in written and oral forms.

Develop an informed, critical perspective on reform debates and the future of policing, grounded in a nuanced understanding of institutional structure, political context, and social impact.