"The State's most useful body" or how the constabulary presented itself at the end of the Old Regime, Pascal Brouillet
The esprit de corps appeared in the constabulary between 1750 and 1760. It definitely crystallised at the time of the French revolution. That feeling of belonging to a special institution was built on three assessments. The constabulary was an elite body, with a military characteristic that had to be clearly confirmed ; this institution, "the state's most useful body", was however ignored by the government and tortured by - not clearly identified but numerous- enemies ; this neglect or these attacks were all the more unjust that the constabulary were totally trusted by the population. These points were systematically stressed when the Gendarmerie, heir to the constabulary, was, in turn, threatened with dissolution. They then became official history on which the unity of the national Gendarmerie still founds itself.

Military, jurist and protector : the gendarme in the 1950's and 1960's according to the Revue d’études et d’informations de la Gendarmerie nationale, Xavier Perinet-Marquet
The Revue d’études et d’informations edited by the national Gendarmerie, was created in 1949 and aimed at giving back confidence to its personnel, at offering them elements of reflection of some interest to the readers, but also at delivering them a useful help in the concrete field of action. Studying this review shows an institution of undoubtedly military culture and tradition, but also defined by a permanent judicial practice. The representation of the gendarme is that of a military, concerned by law, but whose action is not solely repressive since it is conjugated with a role of protection of the population, an image the review seeks to develop. The review carries the image of a gendarme-soldier-of-the-law , as well as a wall protecting society against all kinds of aggressions, the gendarme then appearing as a modern monk-soldier in charge of protecting the population.

In black and blue. The image of the gendarme in communication posters edited by the gendarmerie (1958-2002), Jacqueline Freyssinet-Dominjon
From 1956 until today, the image of the Gendarme shown in the posters of the National Gendarmerie, is one of a multi-function professional, remarkable by his flexibility. Motocyclist or horse-guard, helicopter pilot or radio-communication agent, the character is represented in his function of protection at the service of people, rather than as the keeper of order in charge of repression. Although the feminine figure of the Gendarme only appears in the 1990’s, it doesn’t basically change the imagery of the main values of the force : sharpness, rigour, bearing. But it opens the door to a greater variety of representations : man or women, strict or smiling, with different skin colours. The hero figure gives way to a more human person.

Beating up the gendarme in the Punch-and-Judy shows in the 19th century : a training for rebellion ?, Aurélien Lignereux
Even nowadays, it is hard to conceive Guignol not walloping the gendarme with a truncheon ; and still that scene got fixed to such a point that it lost its meaning. It used to be quite different in the 19th century, when the French had very adversarial relationships with a gendarmerie whose logic was still one of intimidation. That classic scene of walloping constitutes a privileged observatory to follow this "compression/explosion" dialectic. As an archetype, this scene gives a faithful account of the gendarme's image in popular culture ; however, this image exposed to the reactions of an audience who wants to be heard, is not univocal. Because of the diversity of audiences, such an inter-action invalidates the clichés. By looking at the repertoires of Guignol, Punch and Judy or Lafleur, by respecting the chronological and generic distortions, this study of about sixty plays aims at revealing the issues and teachings particular to the apparently simplistic scene of the walloped gendarme.

When Orpheus meets Pandore. The gendarme in songs, Yann Galéra
The representation of the Gendarme in songs owes a lot to the structuring legacy of the 19th century. So, Les deux gendarmes by Nadaud form a framework from which most of the stereotypes of the gendarmes started. Although this image evolves, since it goes from a lout giving people’s particulars to a mischievous gendarme, it is generally the same old song inspiring many variations. Sometimes tutelary, sometimes ornamental, even licentious, the gendarme’s representations in songs remain humorous. It is only with Bourvil’s success just at the end of World War II, that Nadaud’s characters lose their permanence and that other common places appear. Above all, popular songs offer a specific and symbolical bible in comparison with literature and cinema. By nature, songs focus on the affective and sexual world of Pandore, thus radically renewing the crucible of the representations of the force.

Cinegenic of the gendarme ? The series of the Gendarme of Saint-Tropez, Sébastien Le Pajolec
For a long time, French cinema used the gendarme's figure mostly as a silhouette. The release of Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez, in 1964, changed things. Louis de Funès, becoming a star, gave the figure of the gendarme a greater visibility in the 1960's French society, to the point of making him a hero, through the character of Cruchot. With six films, from 1964 to 1982, Cruchot became an incarnation-partly caricatured- of the gendarme and his inscription on society. The study of this corpus makes us wonder about the staging of a social body, the institutional reactions it creates and the ideological discourse it elaborates. Thus, the national Gendarmerie hesitates between condemnation and utilization of the stereotype developed by this cinema series. Watching these six films also lets us see the hesitation of France at a golden age between the modernisation of the country and the persistent traditional model, particularly as far as moors are concerned, a subject on which Cruchot is a zealous vector.

Cops, men in black and white grenades, the issues of the representation of the gendarmes during the First World war, Louis N. Panel
The First World War is certainly one of the darkest periods in the history of the Gendarmerie. For the soldiers, the Force, absent on the battlefields, is only known for its highly unpopular missions of watching and punishing the troop. On a cushy posting because of his remit, the gendarme is considered as a coward. Sticking to rules too strict for men exposed to death, he becomes odious. The “ cop ” then embodies an expiatory figure of all the tensions of the front, present in literature as well as in caricatures. Taking the measure of the moral prejudice brought by this long campaign, the Gendarmerie then tries to light counter-fires, putting forward its fighting episodes or its most spectacular and rewarding missions. It is therefore a real battle of images which is carried out, even before the end of the war, by the supporters and opponents of the 1914-1918 Gendarmerie.

The gendarmerie on the front page. Reactions of the press concerning the Corsican affair, Etienne Gros
The case of the illegal beach restaurants in Corsica was an un-hoped for opportunity to study the Gendarmerie. The numerous articles and cartoons it inspired brought out today’s image of the Force, characterized by a mixture of mockery, fear and respect. An institution made a laughing stock, first because of the traditional caricature of Pandore, but also of new themes such as the insanity of the gendarme’s action. Then, alerted by the action of the GPS and the memory of the
Élysée’s special unit, journalists fear that this police force would favour reasons of State rather than the Law. Finally, in spite of all the events staining its reputation, the Gendarmerie keeps the trust of the Press, notably when the exercise of judiciary missions is concerned.

Images of policemen, images of gendarmes. Toward a common model of law enforcement representatives during the second-half of the 19th century, Quentin Deluermoz
At the end of the 19th century, the Parisian police officer and the gendarme, both agents in uniform and with similar functions, occupy an important place in society’s imaginary. This proximity leads us to compare the systems of representations they induce, in order here to dig the social definitions of public order. Analysis proves that, in spite of common movements, both figures evolve differently along the studied period. The representations of the policeman differ little by little from the military and virile conception of order and crystallize new perceptions and longings. The gendarmes’representations end up being shaken by this movement, but resist thanks to their own logic and to the policies of the institution. This shaking shows, however, the merging of a new sensitivity towards order, which is expressed in a specific way, according to the agents’systems of representations and to the different reactions of the insitutions they represent.

The relationships between policemen and gendarmes through their mutual representations under the Third Republic (1875-1914), Laurent López
The history of the relationships between policemen and gendarmes seems to be only made of episodes aiming at proving the impossibility of reconciliation for these actors of law and order inforcement. These stories build an antagonism first fed by mutual representations before being a field reality. While, according to policemen, gendarmes are nothing but militaries deprived of that “ flair ” one needs to achieve judiciary police work, gendarmes, on the contrary, view policemen as shameful heirs of Vidocq. These representations, which manage a professional identity as well as an institutional positioning, are not fixed and evolve along with the police environment during the Third Republic. The gendarmes’vision of the creation of the mobile brigades illustrates the change in the relationships between the civil servants of the Home Office, while revealing the image made by officers about their force and the missions due to it.

Figures of a soldier-citizen The national guard under the Monarchy of July, Mathilde Larrère-Lopez
The analysis of discursive, iconographic or stage uses of the national guard allows us to present, with regard to the figures of the gendarme, the originality of the representation of a non-professional law enforcement body, “citizen” by its recruiting methods but mostly by the symbols attached to it. By studying the representations of the militia from 1830 to 1848, in the official milieu as well as among the opposition, we see that monarchists and republicans make opposite use of a certain image of the guard on which they partially agree. The national guard allows the conception of a figure of citizenship, bigger than the one of a tax-paying voter, but not as scary as the one of the sovereign people.

Essential and without importance…Looks on local policemen in 19th century France, Fabien Gaveau
Local policemen conjure up the image of little employees without prestige, sometimes without a uniform, in charge of municipal order. Their representations carry opinions about the State, the norms it defends, and its service. Writers, painters, engravers, and, at the end of the century, post-card producers, use, and contribute to spread a range of images which throw light on the policemen’s personalities and on the relationship they keep with the authorities and the local inhabitants. During the 1830’s, the local police are viewed as incompetent, delinquent and alcoholic, in a society based on the values of hard work and respect of private property. To restore their authority, the State finally intervenes. It decides that these agents must defend the law before private property, under the mayor’s supervision. This policy is a failure, all the more so as the State is developing other police forces at the same time. From then on, the transition from local post to folk imaginary is on its way.

"Let us always be citizens and soldiers". Representations of the national Guard under the Commune of Paris, Lisa T. Goodyer
In the months before the Commune of Paris in 1871, the national Guard of the Seine, recently federated with a social composition more popular than ever, had become a military -and above all citizen- force, totally involved in the starting revolutionary process. If the national Guards are indeed representative of the grassroots activists, it is important to go beyond the view of a pseudo-military body, undisciplined and undermined by the practice of direct democracy. This article sketches the representations of the role and status of the Federate national Guard under the Commune of Paris, notably as a counter-power to the elected Commune. It illustrates the conception of a citizen and democratic guard that seems to be aiming at putting into practice its self-management principles on the field of military actions, as well as within the districts, and this, without denying the multiplicity of the representations made by those who dedicated themselves, however unequally.

The groom wore blue. Gendarmes's weddings in Puy-de-Dôme during the 20th century, Cyril Cartayrade
Although being discredited by martial ethics of military condition, marriage forms social identity of nineteenth-century gendarmes. From 1816 to 1854, 35 % of those posted to Puy-de-Dôme get married in this department when the compagny counts 65 % of married soldiers. Convergent interests make matrimony commonplace. For the hierarchy, unions reforme and stabilize the recruits. Gendarmes get a moderate social promotion from marriage : the dowry improves everyday life rather than makes it wealthy. The notability of this official attracts especially small shopkeepers and artisans. Reinforcing the local power of his wife’s family, this influential son-in-law is an eligible bachelor too. A regular pay and a potential transfer to town enhance the glamour of the uniform in bride’s eyes. Coveted, the union stays supervised. On the one hand, authorities assert its corporate nature thanks to an official permission and a presence of gendarmes as witnesses. On the other hand, marriage settlements protect familial property from military dowry-hunter.

Mirror! O dear mirror! The first tracing of history of the republican guard during the Second Empire, Fabien Cardoni
The first official tracing of history of the republican guard contributes to create a social identity. While obscuring any analogy with the police, but mixing several stereotypes, it builds specificity. The image of the guard is also quite different from the one of the Gendarmerie of policemen. Producer and product of representations, that manuscript offers a sanctified and persistent image. Icon and Polaroid, hagiography and martyrdom-report, that history is also a self-portrait, freezing the image of that force as it wishes it to look like. A story telling for internal use, a reflection of an era, this biased testimony helps to comprehend the representations the guard makes of itself. However large its audience and influence on it might be, that pro domo plea is a protection of its image against outside representations. But this “story” is also a mirage, an ego-story with multiple stakes, partly fantasized.