Police action in military/security studies and international relations is a euphemism for a military action undertaken without a formal declaration of war.
Since World War II, formal declarations of war have been rare. Rather, nations involved in military conflict (especially the major-power nations) sometimes describe the conflict by fighting the war under the auspices of a "police action".
The earliest appearance of the phrase was in July 1947, referring to attempts by Netherlands forces to recolonize Indonesia. The Dutch term politionele acties (police actions) was used for this.
In the early days of the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman referred to the United States response to the North Korean invasion as a "police action" under the aegis of the United Nations.
Also it was used to imply a formal claim of sovereignty by colonial powers, such as in the military actions of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and other allies during the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949) and the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960).
Read more about Police Action: Examples of "police Actions", Appropriate Use of The Term
Famous quotes containing the words police and/or action:
“There are all sorts of ways of murdering a person or at least his soul, and that’s something no police in the world can spot.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)
“We have seen the city; it is the gibbous
Mirrored eye of an insect. All things happen
On its balcony and are resumed within,
But the action is the cold, syrupy flow
Of a pageant.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)