Cops Across Borders - CL.

Nadelmann, who teaches politics and public affairs at Princeton University, has written a thorough history of the way U.S. law enforcement--in areas such as drug trafficking and securities violations--has spread abroad. After surveying the first 150 years of such involvement, he explains how, after WW II, the increased global presence of the U.S. government and the growth of industrial and other non-governmental international activity led to a greater enforcement role. Perhaps most illuminating are the chapters in which, based on interviews, Nadelmann explains how the Drug Enforcement Administration helped modernize European criminal justice systems and how the DEA copes with corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also surveys progress in agreements regarding evidence-gathering and the evolution of rules regarding the capture of fugitives. He concludes that while the impact of the United States' increased capacities in these areas is hard to judge, law enforcers are much better now at capturing individual criminals. An advocate of drug legalization, Nadelmann states in a preface that his research confirmed his skepticism about U.S. drug policies. (Feb.)