par Lauro, Amandine 
Editeur scientifique Campion, Jonas;Rousseaux, Xavier
Référence Policing New Risks in Modern European History, PalgraveMcMillan, Basingstoke, page (57-85)
Publication Publié, 2016
Editeur scientifique Campion, Jonas;Rousseaux, Xavier
Référence Policing New Risks in Modern European History, PalgraveMcMillan, Basingstoke, page (57-85)
Publication Publié, 2016
Partie d'ouvrage collectif
| Résumé : | Between the end of the Second World War and the decolonization process, Congolese cities grew spectacularly, leading in some cases –such as in the capital Kinshasa- to a fourfold increase in African urban residents. These radical transformations of the colonial landscape (both spatial and social) raised new security challenges for Belgian authorities. Indeed, as their development coincided with dramatic social changes and with the rise of anticolonial disorders, urban spaces generated specific anxieties over the dangers of unruly "detribalized" Africans (and their proximity to white populations), and over the weaknesses of colonial control and police institutions. This paper aims at interrogating the role played by urban areas in the construction of new security threats and their impact on police reform projects in a late-colonial context. Based on unexplored archival material, it examines the (re)making of colonial (urban) order (as it was debated not only by colonial policy makers but also by urban "experts" and African elites) and the ways in which these new "threats" informed colonial police priorities and structures. Engaging with recent work on policing and colonial order, it argues that the dynamics of postwar (attempted) reforms of the Congolese law and order apparatus were largely influenced by the rise of urban security concerns that challenged previous definitions of repressive strategies to preserve colonial order. |
