The issue of police reform in countries in transition from state socialism toward more democratic forms of governance has risen to practical prominence in recent years. The collapse of the Soviet Union initiated fundamental changes in aspirations, ideologies and governing practices among former members of the socialist camp. Reforming policing systems which had served primarily to protect the party-states from their opponents into systems which serve and protect civic society has come to be seen as an essential prerequisite and concomitant of the democratisation process in transitional...