ABSTRACT
This chapter provides intellectual context for the research the authors have undertaken. It begins with a review of the history of relations between police and governments in Common Law jurisdictions. The chapter reviews the history of the concept and some of the most significant published academic and practitioner comment on it, recognizing that what is accepted as orthodoxy at one time may be viewed quite differently later. It also shows that the some countries have varied considerably in the attention they have devoted to the governance issue and the mechanisms they have chosen to regulate it. Since the creation of the "new police" in Britain in 1829, the relationship of the police to the governments under which they serve has been the subject of debate and controversy in all common law countries. Despite the frequency of public commentary, there are hardly any detailed case studies of political interference written by police officers, politicians, academics, or other observers.
