Columbia International Affairs Online

CIAO DATE: 9/07

The Imaginary of Crowd Control and the French Army

Elwis Potier

Culture and Conflict: Volume 56 (Winter 2005)

Abstract

The end of the Cold War and the redefinition of strategic stakes that followed were the occasion of the return of the notion of « crowds » in the French military doctrine troughout the action of « crowd control ». This signs the return of the imaginary accompanying the word « crowd » since Gustave Lebon’s work. Through the reading of the French military doctrine manual, this article aims at elucidating the imaginary social significations, according to C. Catoriadis, that are part of the French army discourses and practices with regards to the « control » of « crowds ».