Introduction

In Europe, the wave of political goodwill and cooperation which swept the continent in the aftermath of the Cold War led directly to the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1992. The increasing complexity and fragmentation of the transnational policing field in years appears to have occurred at the same time as a significant slowdown of academic interest in transnational policing as a distinct subject. The period between the late-1980s and the mid-2000s witnessed an unprecedented expansion of academic interest in transnational policing. The vast majority of publications focused on ongoing and emerging issues, while historical precedents and developments leading up to the end of the Cold War usually featured as a recognised cornerstone of analyses. M. Anderson’s Policing the World was one of the first publications to stimulate a significant expansion of academic interest in transnational policing. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.