The Police Function Between the Social Contract and Citizenship:Philosophical Roots and Historical Trajectory in Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the history of the modern police as a state institution and its role in the construction of citizenship. It starts from the central question of how an institution born as a mechanism of social control and repression can, in democratic contexts, become an agent for the exercise of citizenship. The central thesis is that although the police originated as an authoritarian apparatus, its role can be reoriented according to conditions of legality, participation, and accountability, requiring cultural and institutional changes in the practice of police power. The framework draws from classical authors such as Hobbes (1651) and Locke (1689), who legitimized sovereign power with reference to the need for security and protection of natural rights. Beccaria (1764) expanded these moral and legal boundaries of repression. The critical line of analysis is enriched by reference to, for whom the police represent a technique of governance and a disciplinary tool [1]. Contributes insights on the formation of the police and the paradoxicalm relationship between democratic rhetoric and authoritarian practices in contemporary Brazil [2]. The method is qualitative, using bibliographical research and documentary methodology, with a historical-interpretive approach capable of connecting the institutional evolution of police in Europe, Portugal, and Brazil, and current challenges in public security. The results suggest that transforming the police into a citizenship agent requires changes that are not only normative but also symbolic, ethical, and structural. This study aims to stimulate discussions on public policy, the education of officers and citizens, and the democratization of security forces