Audrey Pluta thesis defence: "The order of democracy: Police unions and security "reform" professionals in Tunisia (2011-2021)".

Monday 18 November 2024 | from 2pm | EPS (room 001)

We are pleased to inform you that Audrey Pluta's thesis defence, entitled "The order of democracy: police unions and security "reform" professionals in Tunisia (2011-2021)"will be held on Monday 18 November, starting at 2pm, at the Espace Philippe Séguin.

Summary:

A pillar of Ben Ali's authoritarian regime, the police institution in Tunisia has been buffeted by seemingly opposing winds since January 2011: social demands and union struggles from below and demands for reform from outside. This thesis sheds light on the ways in which modes of domination are recomposed in a context where they have been put on the back burner, where their legitimacy has been challenged. In contrast to an attempt to classify political regimes, it shows the hybridisations and adaptations of social relations of coercion in a context of emerging authoritarianism, in which the police remain central. My approach was to decompartmentalise the sociology of institutions, public action and the police, by following the actors through repeated interviews between 2017 and 2021 with police trade unionists, security sector reformers and Ministry of the Interior executives. The local uses of participatory watchwords in police work, the possible non-existence of an overhaul of political control of the security forces and changes in police socio-professional conditions are all areas of investigation into changes in sectoral arrangements specific to security. "The title of this thesis, 'The Order of Democracy', embodies the practice of power that is typical of situations of 'authoritarian restoration', involving composition with centrifugal forces, between demands for change in police methods and social demands for a return to order. In this sense, security sector reform policies and police anger converge towards a strengthening of the security institution, either by participating in its relegitimisation, or by obtaining areas of socio-professional autonomy for officers. In this way, this thesis contributes to the debate on the uses of coercion and how they are incorporated into the construction of public, political and social orders.

The jury is made up of :

• Amin ALLAL, Research Fellow at CERAPS / Univ. of Lille (thesis co-supervisor)
• Maryam BEN SALEM, MCF at the University of Sousse, Tunisia (Examiner)
• Myriam CATUSSE, Director of Research CNRS / IFPO (Examiner)
• Francesco CAVATORTA, Professor at the University of Lava (Examiner)
• Marielle DEBOS, MCF HDR at the University of Paris Nanterre (Rapporteur)
• Gilles FAVAREL-GARRIGUES, Research Director CERI - Sciences-Po Paris (Rapporteur)
• Éric GOBE, Director of Research at IREMAM / Aix-Marseille-Université (Thesis supervisor)
• Fabien JOBARD, Director of Research CESDIP (Chairman of the jury)

This event will be in a hybrid format (contact for the link: peroline.rouillard@sciencespo-aix.fr, MESOPOLHIS Communications Officer).