%0 Book Section
%A Henriet, Benoit
%B Policing Colonial Empires. Cases, Connections, Boundaries (ca. 1850–1970)
%C Brusselles
%D 2017
%E Blanchard, Emmanuel
%E Bloemberger, Marieke
%E Lauro, Amandine
%F justhis:7539
%I P.I.E. Peter Lang
%P 41-62
%S Outre-Mers
%T Ordering the Wetlands. Policing and Legitimate Violence in the Leverville Concession (Belgian Congo, 1911-1920)
%U http://www.just-his.be/eprints/7539/
%V 6
%X In 1919, Max Weber defined the State as an entity successfully claiming for itself the monopoly of legitimate violence within a given territory – an idea that was, however, already being thoroughly challenged in colonial settings at the time. Colonies and protectorates formed an uneven patchwork of ad hoc sovereignties that metropolitan States, local authorities, and private actors were actively sharing and negotiating. In this context, chartered companies and concessions were instrumental for the enforcement of imperial authority. Economic valuation and territorial occupation often went hand in hand overseas, where sovereign prerogatives – conceivably including policing or military rights – were frequently shared with or devolved to business ventures by metropolitan governments.1