ABSTRACT

Demilitarisation of policing in France and Germany-as in many other European countries-partly coincided with the emergence of modern professional police forces. The dynamics behind the demilitarisation process arose from the particular problems created by the use of soldiers for policing tasks. The demilitarisation in Germany highlights some of the ambiguity of the German-Prussian 'Police-State tradition' and presents an unusual aspect of the otherwise heavily militarised state and society of the German Empire. The historical institutionalist perspective offers a framework of interpretation that is particularly useful for understanding the dynamics within the French and Prussian-German systems. Military involvement in protest policing goes right to the heart of our understanding of the nature of the French Third Republic and the German Empire. The frequent military involvement in protest policing fits awkwardly into the image of the French Third Republic as a liberal regime. One is linked to the emergence in France of new strategic approaches to protest policing.