Community policing has gained popularity amongst donors, governments, police departments and communities as a mechanism for achieving a diverse range of goals – from crime reduction to improved state-society relations. Yet while community policing initiatives are widespread across the globe, there is little consensus on its definition, objectives or models. Given the ambiguity surrounding its precise meaning, this paper maps the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of community policing, setting out what it means and hopes to achieve, and how it manifests and is shaped by factors such as histories of state-society relations.

This paper introduces a number of key academic and policy debates central to the DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme's theme of innovation and explores its role in understanding research and policy on innovation.