POINT OF VIEW. The nightmare of insecurity

The modern state was born out of the fear of insecurity. To prevent man from being a wolf for man, the idea has emerged, since at least the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, in the middle of the 17th century, that a social contract is needed and hence a State in which all submit. The idea will then become clearer, for example with the sociologist Max Weber explaining two and a half centuries later that the State has a legitimate monopoly on the use of force. But now the social contract, in France, is broken, that submission to the state is no longer the rule for everyone.

One day the police are accused of excess, another, and this is the case at the moment, they are the object of unbridled violence. One day, danger number 1 is called “separatism”, a clumsy way of calling radical Islamism, the next day the violence comes from elsewhere, from a youth who seems lost for the Republic, without presenting itself as Muslim.

Reflection here is difficult. It is first of all that the emotion paralyzes her, in favor of answers which can only be ideological, or short-sighted: it is true that the police lack the means, that the policemen, tired , expect much more from power… But who can believe that answering them will solve all the problems?

The current insecurity stems from the crisis of the “suburbs”, which until now the policies of the city have been powerless to curb – we will regret in passing the first-class burial to which the suburb plan presented by Jean was entitled. Louis Borloo to President Macron in 2018, while he was opening very interesting avenues.

This urban crisis has opened up space to jihad terrorism, but also to drug trafficking. But is it enough to repress it? The police say it: families, neighborhoods live on it. Those who seek answers other than repressive, for example legalization, come up against moral, health but also economic and social objections: can regulating drugs be considered without taking into account its place in the budget of a party? significant part of the population? Paradoxically, letting the traffickers act to have social peace, as they ensure that the media and the police do not disrupt their activities in the neighborhoods where they impose an order – theirs?

The health crisis exacerbates tensions, worries and aggressive behavior, it fuels an economic and social crisis which also affects the field of trafficking of all kinds. When unemployment and poverty increase, tort conduits are a remedy for some, but made difficult by restrictions on mobility, confinement, closures of meeting places, bars and other establishments. The nerves are on edge in the current context, and this also encourages behavior of violence, for example domestic, the passage to the act.

In such a context, responses requiring long duration to produce their effects seem inappropriate, and of the order of reverie. But the repressive responses do not settle anything on the merits. The hyper-reactive media coverage of television news channels and social networks exacerbates the pressure on political leaders who are at the same time subjected to requests from all kinds of social or professional groups, one day the health professions, another the police …

Let us add to this table the limits of justice, often criticized for its lack of effectiveness in the face of delinquency, to the point that politico-media initiatives revive the debate on the death penalty: the authorities are confronted with a bundle of problems. that condenses the recourse to the theme of insecurity. And as he is not far from being overwhelmed by these difficulties, that his appeals to reason run up against doubt and the mistrust of a considerable part of public opinion, he risks being tempted to respond to the question. a nightmare looming over authoritarianism. A dangerous spiral threatens us.

(1) School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences.

– .