Stuart Schrader

Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing was published in October 2019 by University of California Press in the American Crossroads series. Check Indiebound and Bookshop.org. Here is the book's Goodreads page.

A short description of the book:

From the Cold War through today, the U.S. has quietly assisted dozens of regimes around the world in suppressing civil unrest and securing the conditions for the smooth operation of capitalism. Casting a new light on American empire, Badges Without Borders shows, for the first time, that the very same people charged with global counterinsurgency also militarized American policing at home.

In this groundbreaking exposé, Stuart Schrader shows how the United States projected imperial power overseas through police training and technical assistance—and how this effort reverberated to shape the policing of city streets at home. Examining diverse records, from recently declassified national security and intelligence materials to police textbooks and professional magazines, Schrader reveals how U.S. police leaders envisioned the beat to be as wide as the globe and worked to put everyday policing at the core of the Cold War project of counterinsurgency. A “smoking gun” book, Badges Without Borders offers a new account of the War on Crime, “law and order” politics, and global counterinsurgency, revealing the connections between foreign and domestic racial control.

Popular Reviews of Badges Without Borders

• Protean, by Will Meyer (10/26/21): "Empire's Laboratory"
• Al Bosla, by أحمد مولانا / Ahmed Mawlana (6/27/20): "أجهزة الشرطة والهيمنة الأمريكية" / "American Police and Hegemony" (in Arabic)
• Boston Review, by Andrew Lanham (6/25/20): "Policing the World"
• The Metropole (Urban History Association blog), by Charlotte Rosen (3/23/20): "From Cold War Counterinsurgency to Policing in Ferguson"
• The Baffler, by Lyle Jeremy Rubin (1/27/20): "The Long Arm of the Law" (republished by Portside)
• Johns Hopkins Magazine (Winter 2019): "Team America: World Police"
• Jacobin, by Kyle Burke (12/20/19): "The Police Know Guerrilla Warfare
• Bookforum, by Patrick Blanchfield (12/2/19): "The Thick Blue Line" (republished by Bunk History)

Scholarly Reviews of Badges Without Borders​

• Aaron Bekemeyer, Journal of Urban History (12/14/23)
• Roundtable: Richard Nisa, Christopher Agee, Megan Ybarra, H-Diplo | Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum (1/13/23)
• Steven Osuna, American Quarterly (3/1/22)
• Max Felker-Kantor, American Historical Review (2/9/22)
• João Fernando Finazzi, Contexto Internacional (12/8/21)
• Ely Aaronson, Law & Social Inquiry (12/6/21)
• Quentin Deforge, La Vie Des Idées (10/18/21; in French) 
• Marc Becker, Journal of American History (9/1/21)
• Patrick DeDauw, Social Justice (Summer 2021)
• David-James Gonzale, Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies (Spring-Fall 2021)
• Andrew Lanham, University of Michigan Law Review (5/11/21)
• Samuel Schiffer, Georgetown Security Studies Review (10/16/20)
• Roundtable: Tarak Barkawi, Paul Edgar, Jeffrey H. Michaels, Jeanne Morefield, Guellermina Seri, International Politics Reviews (June 2020)
• Kirsten Weld, International Labor and Working-Class History (Spring 2020)
• Thomas C. Field, Jr., Diplomatic History (January 2021)
• Nils Gilman, Small Wars Journal (4/12/20)
• Marisol LeBrón, Punishment & Society (October 2020)

Podcast, Radio, and Video Interviews about Badges Without Borders

• Bang Bang, hosted by Van Jackson & Lyle Jeremy Rubin (August 3, 2025) [audio]
• Syracuse University US and the World Workshop Series, hosted by Osamah Khalil (October 25, 2021) [video]
• WUSC's Passport Playlist, hosted by Sarah Parsons (February 27, 2021) [audio]
• Foreign Affairs Inbox, hosted by Lucas Miller (November 2, 2020) [audio]
• The Road to Now, hosted by Ben Sawyer (September 7, 2020) [audio]
• International Politics Reviews Discussion Forum, hosted by Robbie Shilliam (September 4, 2020) [audio]
• Nostalgia Trap, hosted by David Parsons (August 21, 2020) [audio]
• Fortress On A Hill, hosted by Chris ‘Henri’ Henrikson & Danny Sjursen (August 14, 2020) [audio]
• Latino Media Collective, hosted by Oscar Martinez (August 14, 2020) [audio]
• Coming In From The Cold, hosted by William Rosenau (July 31, 2020) [audio]
• The Dig, hosted by Dan Denvir (7/24/20) [audio]
• The Gateway, hosted by Ty Joplin (6/30/20) [audio]
• Failed State Update, hosted by Joe Flatley (6/24/20) [audio]
• Intercepted, hosted by Jeremy Scahill (6/3/20) [audio]
• Historic.ly, hosted by Esha P.K. (5/4/20) [audio]
• The Critical Criminologist, hosted by Alex Vitale (3/29/20) [video]
• Majority Report, hosted by Sam Seder (2/29/20) [video or audio only] 
• Black Agenda Radio, hosted by Glen Ford (1/21/20) [audio]
• KPFA's Behind The News, hosted by Doug Henwood (1/9/20) [audio]
• C-Span Book TV, hosted by Osita Nwavenu (recorded 10/17/19; aired 12/8/19) [video]
• New Books Network, hosted by Patrick Reilly (11/5/19) [audio]

Print Interviews about Badges Without Borders

• Black Perspectives, interview by Dan Berger (1/29/20): "The Imperial History of US Policing"
• Jacobin magazine, interview by Jonah Walters (10/19/19): "Empire of Patrolmen"
• The Hub (Johns Hopkins University), interview by Bret McCabe (10/16/19): "The Evolution of American Policing, at Home and Abroad, in the Cold War Era"

​

Other Published Coverage of Badges Without Borders

• The New York Times featured BWB in "5 Books to Read about Policing Before You Vote" (10/24/24)
• The New Yorker featured BWB in "The Invention of the Police" (7/13/20)
• New York Magazine featured BWB in "The Best Histories of U.S. Policing, According to the Experts" (7/1/20)
• The Metropole Blog (Urban History Association) featured BWB in "Disciplining the City" (12/19/19) 
• The Millions featured BWB in "A Year In Reading" (12/12/19)
• Contingent Magazine included BWB in its 2019 Contingent Book List (11/29/19)
• University of California Press published a blog post, to coincide with the American Studies Association's annual meeting, about BWB and Honolulu's most famous police chief, Daniel Liu (11/7/19): "Policing Honolulu"
• Page 99 Test featured BWB (10/28/19)

Bonus: Here is a video of my conversation with Orisanmi Burton about BWB in Washington, DC, plus the audience Q+A (11/19/19). 

The American Studies Association awarded my dissertation "Finalist Mention" (i.e., second place) for its annual Ralph Henry Gabriel Dissertation Prize. That dissertation served as the basis for Badges Without Borders.