ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on critical political economy to trace the history of 'policing as a grand intellectual project linked to state formation, prosperity and security in Enlightenment thought'. It begins by contrasting medieval and feudal conceptions and institutionalizations of policing–noting how little they have in common with the very narrow, public policing model that we recognize today. The chapter outlines the development and incubation of this strange, but contemporarily familiar institutional technology for policing. It traces the particular instrumental, structural, and conceptual 'conditions of possibility' that had to align in space and time to enable politicians, legal practitioners, and moral entrepreneurs to publicize the new private policing technologies. The chapter considers some of the most important gaps in our knowledge that form the basis of important directions for research are highlighted. It shows that whether public and private policing are 'converging' is not a question of simple recent convergence.
