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Police violence and the state: The negotiation of the boundaries between legitimated and illegitimate police violence in the context of the gilets jaunes protests

Emrich, Merle LU (2022) SOLM02 20221
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
The French gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protest movement, sparked by a planned carbon fuel tax in 2018 is marked by numerous injuries and mutilations of protesters by police, and characterised by a shift towards a more confrontational protest policing strategy. Viewing protest policing and police violence as interlinked with political processes, this thesis explores the question of how the boundaries between sanctioned and unsanctioned police violence are (re-)negotiated in the intersections of law (enforcement) and politics in the specific context of the gilets jaunes movement. The analysis of public government discourse on the protests and their policing through the lens of Walter Benjamin’s critique of violence and Hannah Arendt’s theory... (More)
The French gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protest movement, sparked by a planned carbon fuel tax in 2018 is marked by numerous injuries and mutilations of protesters by police, and characterised by a shift towards a more confrontational protest policing strategy. Viewing protest policing and police violence as interlinked with political processes, this thesis explores the question of how the boundaries between sanctioned and unsanctioned police violence are (re-)negotiated in the intersections of law (enforcement) and politics in the specific context of the gilets jaunes movement. The analysis of public government discourse on the protests and their policing through the lens of Walter Benjamin’s critique of violence and Hannah Arendt’s theory on violence and power, and using a Critical Discourse Analysis, reveals a twofold discourse. References to democratic debate and a distinction between violent and non-violent protesters suggests an effort to secure and regain the government’s power whose loss is marked by the gilets jaunes’ contestation. Meanwhile, a denial of the existence of police violence and the
emphasis of a threat to the state through the extra-legal violence of protesters forms the context in which the coexistence of law-making and law-preserving violence within the institution police are reaffirmed and legitimised. This process is then further institutionalised through two widely debated, controversial laws: the so-called loi anticasseurs, and the so-called loi sécurité globale. (Less)
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author
Emrich, Merle LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
police violence, protest movements, protest policing, gilets jaunes, loi anticasseurs, loi sécurité globale, France, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, discourse
language
English
id
9091386
date added to LUP
2022-08-01 14:23:42
date last changed
2022-08-01 14:23:42
@misc{9091386,
  abstract     = {{The French gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protest movement, sparked by a planned carbon fuel tax in 2018 is marked by numerous injuries and mutilations of protesters by police, and characterised by a shift towards a more confrontational protest policing strategy. Viewing protest policing and police violence as interlinked with political processes, this thesis explores the question of how the boundaries between sanctioned and unsanctioned police violence are (re-)negotiated in the intersections of law (enforcement) and politics in the specific context of the gilets jaunes movement. The analysis of public government discourse on the protests and their policing through the lens of Walter Benjamin’s critique of violence and Hannah Arendt’s theory on violence and power, and using a Critical Discourse Analysis, reveals a twofold discourse. References to democratic debate and a distinction between violent and non-violent protesters suggests an effort to secure and regain the government’s power whose loss is marked by the gilets jaunes’ contestation. Meanwhile, a denial of the existence of police violence and the 
emphasis of a threat to the state through the extra-legal violence of protesters forms the context in which the coexistence of law-making and law-preserving violence within the institution police are reaffirmed and legitimised. This process is then further institutionalised through two widely debated, controversial laws: the so-called loi anticasseurs, and the so-called loi sécurité globale.}},
  author       = {{Emrich, Merle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Police violence and the state: The negotiation of the boundaries between legitimated and illegitimate police violence in the context of the gilets jaunes protests}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}