Authoritarian Policing and America’s Incomplete Democratization

American policing is commonly racist and repressive in nature. Calls for policing reform, even amidst mass protests, go largely unheeded. Existing literature on policing emphasize contemporary explanations to understand these issues such as the psychology of police officers and “tough on crime” voters and politicians. Political scientists Robert Mickey, Jacob M. Grumbach, and Daniel Ziblatt will examine historical factors that have contributed to development of current day policing. They will trace this development back to America’s recent democratization, that is, the right for all adults to vote, which was not complete until the 1970s.