| dc.description.abstract | While previously dismissed as an exclusively American issue, in recent years the
unequal policing of ethnic minorities has increasingly been recognised as a European
problem too. Indeed, in the Netherlands ethnic profiling has become a matter of
serious concern, discussed by television hosts and academics alike. Yet, despite this
recognition, collective claim making against the use of ethnic profiling in the
Netherlands has been minimal. Responding to Tilly and Tarrow’s call for further
research to be undertaken on the ‘oceans of apathy’ found in democratic regimes, this
research investigates this contradiction. Based on an ethnographic exploration into the
everyday interactions between Moroccan-Dutch boys and the police in Kanaleneiland,
this research argues that for the boys in this study, criminalisation has become the
norm. This is reasoned as a symptom of the move towards a culture of control. While
not resisting this criminalisation through the democratic repertoires outlined in the
contentious politics framework, I argue that the boys are not apathetic. Rather, they
are angry about the injustices they face, yet lacking faith in their potential to effect
political change, they dismiss the repertoires expected to be utilised by citizens living
in democratic regimes. Instead, they adopt everyday forms of resistance that bare
greater resemblance to resistance found in non-democratic regimes. While this
phenomenon may deviate from the contentious politics framework as set out by Tilly
and Tarrow, when taking into account the boys’ unequal experiences of the State and,
with this, their perceptions of Dutch democracy, it makes perfect sense. I thus argue
for the need to reassess and update the contentious politics framework to consider
both citizens’ asymmetrical experiences with, and perceptions of, democracy. | |
