21 - French perspectives on threats to peace and local social order

Summary

What has been learned from almost three decades of urban violence in disadvantaged neighbourhoods? The forms of violence conducted by male youths in such areas are frequently conveyed by the media. Places and potentially violent actors are both perceived as risks. Risks rather than feelings of insecurity are what governments want to anticipate. The questions that our era has to confront were hardly confronted before. The political manipulation of risk, threat and danger linked to unknown youths is made easier when mainstream societies lack markers and the necessary distance to deconstruct the fears impacting on their daily life. All over Europe, since 9/11, a noticeable change has been observed among national and local governments advocating principles of precaution and strict policies of identification, surveillance and repression of ‘suspects’. For instance, that the term Muslim has implicitly linked ethnic forms of violence in relegated neighbourhoods and threats of home-grown terrorism in the media rhetoric has allowed ‘entrepreneurs’ to benefit from such representations producing fears, from the media to the security market itself. A new regime order prevails in Europe giving legitimacy to policies of order at the expense of some people's liberties. Such regime's aims are the securisation of territories and the detection of ‘suspects’. But the task being endless, urban governance is taking a leadership role on many aspects, a major one being inclusiveness as a condition of security supported by a preventative approach.