I've been thinking about writing something to expand the notion of the police state. The traditional concept of the police state is that of a functional police state: a state where authoritarian rule is already present. But the more I observe legal issues, the more I am convinced there should be a notion of a structural police state: a state where the legal framework easily allows for authoritarian rule, but that rule hasn't materialized yet.
A good example of this would be home searches. The US use to have a relatively good system for preventing arbitrary searces, where as many European countries give the police extensive powers to do searches without any or little outside approval or oversight. The European models very much rely on the benevolence of the police, instead of checks and balances.
My problem is that I'm somewhat stuck on which issues to cover, what would be good historical precedents and so on. Any ideas would be appreciated. Also, any critique is welcome.
Also, does anyone know if this has been covered by someone already? I'm not aware of any literature on it.