Violence and Colonial Order Police, Workers and Protest in the European Colonial Empires, 1918 1940

'In a colonial system threatened by economic crisis, labour protest and rising nationalism, efforts to safeguard the colonial political economy provided the key to the policing of the empire. Martin Thomas' impressively wide-ranging and thoroughly documented study for the first time analyses the links between colonial policing, political economy and imperial policy in Africa, southeast Asia and the Caribbean.' Robert Aldrich, University of Sydney 'Violence and Colonial Order testifies to the ability of comparative historical inquiry to develop new integrative approaches to colonial governance, political economies, and coercive labour regimes. In taking its analysis of colonial policing beyond its use in political repression and into the realm of commodity production and worker discipline, Thomas' masterful case studies shed invaluable light on both local particularities and cross-colonial overlaps alike.' Elizabeth Buettner, University of York 'Martin Thomas has produced a remarkable monograph on policing and colonial violence during the inter-war years. Comparative in approach, it spans several colonies, countries and continents, and combines careful micro-level case studies with an overarching and persuasive thesis concerning the centrality of political-economic conditions. It is a wonderful achievement.' Talbot Imlay, Universite Laval, Quebec