Transnational and global policing have emerged alongside wider developments in terms of greater human mobility, global communications technology and an increase in the significance of transnational corporations. The growth in transna­tional policing mirrors shifts that have occurred in other policy areas. The relative decline of the nation state wrought by globalisation has been accompanied by a privatisation of policing activities, and these have also developed transnationally.

Although there has been a relative decline in the sovereign power of nation states these continue to be centrally important to many elements of transnational policing. Even though many aspects of international policing activity are coordinated and delivered across national borders, nation states continue to be the building blocks in terms of treaties and the development of international law. The concept of global policing, in contrast, suggests a network of forms of regulation that exist beyond the control of the nation state.

Transnational policing has become an important component of international devel­opment. Since the 1990s the USA has acted on the basis that the promotion of democratic policing and the rule of law are key components of a wider political and economic transition. The United Nations first deployed police in the Congo in 1960. Since that early period the scope and scale of UN operations have expanded. By 2010 the UN had deployed 17,500 police and missions have taken on a wide range of functions.