Police Power and Colonial Rule: Madras 1859-1947

by David Arnold

Focusing on developments in the Madras presidency between the Rebellion of 1857-58 and independence 90 years later, this book studies the creation of a British constabulary in India as a powerful coercive tool of British colonialism. The author targets the use of police force against dacoits, nationalists, adivasi hillmen, and urban proletariats, and reveals, through the organization and social composition of the constabulary, how internally as well as externally, the police force mirrored the underlying character of the colonial system as a whole.

Genres: Academic

290 pages, Hardcover

First published February 5, 1987

About the author

David Arnold is professor emeritus of Asian and global history in the Department of History at the University of Warwick. Among his numerous works are Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India; Gandhi; and The Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science, 1800–1856.