Resistência e continência: o policial militar como sacer

• Main Author: Antonio Alberto Brunetta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP) 2012-08-01
• Series: Cadernos de Campo
• Subjects: comunitary police; homo sacer; agamben; urban security
• Online Access: https://periodicos.fclar.unesp.br/cadernos/article/view/5161/4226

Non-oficial military policemen are the line of battle of the Military Police in Brazil. In one hand, they are exposed to a public judgment that identifies them as the subjects of the State’s violence and on the other they are not fully recognized by their corporation because of their low position in the institution’s hierarchy. This condition is appreciated through Giorgio Agambem’s concepts of homo sacer, bare life and state of exception, according to which contemporary life results in the emptying of the human condition, as only one spect of social existence becomes absolute. The emptying of the police’s traditional identity is a consequence of pertaining to the protocol of a democratic action, which stands against the requirement for efficiency. This Paper emphasizes the paradox in police’s task due to the new demands of a society that wants to be democratic, therefore it states the urgent need to rethink police’s job. Although being an essay, this paper is indirectly based on other research done by the author.