Defenders of Democracy: The Police, Democracy and Higher Education

Project description

The police play a crucial role in democratic societies by upholding law and order, and by addressing crime and insecurity. As a state institution, the police are unique because they hold the exclusive legitimate monopoly over the use of force within the domestic sphere. Police training across the globe is currently being professionalized through partnerships with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In Sweden, the police training has since the early 2000s partly been integrated into the academic system, and the police program is currently offered at five universities. This project will study how police training addresses issues of democracy and the role of the police in society. What are the students taught about the values underpinning democracy, its central definitional features, and main threats to democracy? And does the prioritization in terms of scope and content vary between the different police programs in Sweden? Through analysis of course content and interviews, this project will advance an understanding of how democracy and its threats are conceptualized within Swedish police education as well as the role of HEIs in the academization of a profession central for a functioning democratic state.