A Fragile State Monopoly? Policies and Practices of Gun Control and the Redefinition of State Prerogatives on the Global Stage, 1890s-1940s

This conference seeks to reflect on the relationship existing between private gun ownership and the processes of imposition (or re-imposition) of State legitimacy in peacetime as much as during or in the aftermath of armed conflicts. It intends to do so specifically by addressing how the process of modernization and its ensuing tendency to codification and the world wars and their long shadows have had an impact on three aspects of these processes: institutional regulations on civilian possession of firearms from above; juridical debate on limits and rights of State control; practices and culture of gun ownership on the ground.