Riots and the French Disease

Arun Kapil replies

Claire—my recent newsletter about controlling riots began with my exchange with my friend Arun Kapil, a Franco-American political scientist. Arun has written a wonderful essay on the topic that includes (but isn’t limited to) a response to me. He’s kindly given me permission to publish the edited version, below. (I’ve added footnotes to ensure it’s accessible to Anglophones.) You can read the original at Arun with a View, which you should read regularly.

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By Arun Kapil

From left to right: “After the collapse of authority, wake up or face chaos: The arsonists, their accomplices, and the profiteers. Our investigation,” “Secession. X-ray of a country set on fire and bloodied. An unsparing analysis of a national tragedy,” “The powder keg and the arsonists. Protests, looting. It’s time for a reckoning.” “Neighborhoods: Forty years of disaster. How to overcome public helplessness. A path for recapturing the Republic.”

Each paroxysm of collective violence in the banlieues or ghettoized quarters of French cities has its specificities, but almost all follow the same well-worn script, with rioting by young males—most under age 18—of post-colonial, immigrant origin sparked by a confrontation with the police—and the conflagration set off by an action of the police. The police are invariably the instigators of the riots.