This presentation examines the reform of the police sector in Algeria and its effect on the Algerian regime’s ability to manage social movements. Since February 2019, Algeria witnessed an unprecedented period of popular mobilization. Millions of citizens took to the streets to call for the departure of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika before articulating radical demands for regime change. While these protests are reminiscent of those that accompanied the regional protests of the 2011 Arab Uprisings, they differ in one crucial aspect which is the generally peaceful interaction between the demonstrators and members of the security forces - particularly in the first 12 months of protest. Whereas the former strictly abided by peaceful means of contention, the latter used surprisingly liberal strategies of crowd management and refrained from using lethal force against citizens. This contrasts sharply with the use of force in Egypt and Tunisia against popular protests. This talk is part of a project that seeks to examine the crowd policing strategies used under competitive authoritarian regimes. How can the differences in policing strategies be explained? Why do some police forces use hard coercive or lethal means whereas others do not? This presentation focuses on the Algerian case to test the hypothesis of the professionalization of the Algerian police.

Merouan Mekouar is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada. He completed his PhD in Political Science at McGill University in May 2013. Most of his writing has focused on social movements, authoritarianism and democratization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as the diffusion of social norms. His first book titled “Protest and Mass Mobilization: Authoritarian Collapse and Political Change in North Africa” was published with RoutIedge in 2016. He is currently working on a new co-edited book on fieldwork methodology in non-democratic settings as well as a special issue on the impact of the Covid pandemic on the countries of the Maghreb. He received numerous awards and grants including the Abner Kingman Fellowship, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Grant, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant, SSHRC Small Fund, York University Faculty Association Teaching Grant and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Seed Grant among others.