Jonas Campion

Gendarmes Facing Political Violence: Belgium, 1918–1940

Confronted with political violence, the political authority needs to give a polymorphic answer to guarantee the continuity of the State. In the frontline of these answers, police institutions are charge with the management of the disorders. In the streets, in time of strikes, riots of demonstrations, policemen have to put into practice the political, administrative or legal decisions intended to maintain the order and to frame violence. The gendarmerie, as a national and military force, charged with administrative, legal or military police missions, stay in the heart of the official answer. In Belgium, case study of our paper, four political types of violence are observed during the Interwar: demonstrations related to the Flemish movement, movements of WWI veterans, Rexists demonstrations and finally, socio-economic strikes, related to the development of the Communist party. In Belgium, cleavages are there thus at the same time related to National Communities, but also to political and socio-economic ideas. Using gendarmerie’s archives (reports, orders, statements) and archives of official authorities (Prosecutors, ministers), we highlight first, the progress of political violence (places, people involved, typology of violence, …), and secondly, official and institutional answers to these one’s. Between policy, institutional and individual logics, we question the diversity of the attitudes adopted by the gendarmes to manage the disorders.

New Threats or Phantom Menace? Police Institutions Facing Crises

Social, economic, political, regime or environmental crises bring about challenging periods for the proper working of society. Crises take part in the transformation process of structures and practices of established authorities. The latter develop new policies to best handle these unconventional times and safeguard the effectiveness or legitimacy of their actions in changing environments4. In contemporary States, one of the major consequences of crises is to foster changes in the frameworks of citizenship and social statuses, which are reconfigured between victims, “dangerous” groups to be closely watched, leading elites or populations which have been recently integrated within the social and political life of the State.

Policing New Risks in Modern European History

Authorities often fear societal change as it implies finding a new balance to live together within society. Whether it is defined by economic, political, social or cultural factors, the transformation of life in society is considered by authorities as a “risk” that needs to be framed and controlled. New social groups as well as new behaviours inspire great fears, while being at the heart of the evolutional process of society. In this context, the states response to this situation of transformation can be analysed through the prism of the police. Informally or not, police systems adapt their regulatory frameworks, their structures and their practices in order to respond risks, new threats and new rules they face and are entitled to deal with. In the face of the “danger” that is sometimes overstated in the public sphere, the logics of the police, but also the judicial system, political and public authorities participate to redefining the meaning and the identity of police work (structural adaptations, professionalization, practices, new equipment’s, etc.) and the stakes of exercising police functions (repression, surveillance, guidance, etc.) against the (f)actors of change. This process, which is mostly of a contemporary nature, is also deeply historic. It goes hand in hand with regulating life in society. Analysing it on the long run is therefore particularly relevant. From the late 19th century until the second half of the 20th century, what are the polices evolutional dynamics in the face of the “threats”/”risks” inherent to societal transformations? In a sociohistorical perspective, the aim of this book is to provide a panorama of political and police reactions to the “risks” of societal change in a Western European perspective (Belgium, France, The Netherlands but also Colonial perspective). To this end, we multiply focuses on representative cases of these dynamics of adaptations, by crossing normal and exceptional situations. We thereby lay stress on the recent historiographic abundance related to the police, as well as on the new fields of study, hitherto unknown sources and specific methods related to this renewal of approach.

Gendarmeries, territorial control and State reinforcement at the ends of world wars (Belgium, France and The Netherlands, 1914-1950)

Present in many European countries, the institution of the ‘gendarmerie’ is a powerful and regal tool for controlling territories and populations as well as for strengthening the central authority. The twentieth centurys two world wars represent decisive moments for understanding the modes of regulation implemented by the gendarmeries. The ambition of this article is to question the impact of the two world wars on the modes of control over territories and persons for the Belgian and French gendarmeries and the Dutch Koninklijke Marechaussee. In this way, the author analyses the relationships between the State and the police institutions. The article thus sheds light on evolutions in ‘gendarmic systems’ from a regional, national and transnational perspective during the first half of a twentieth century marked by two major crises.