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“Participation in law and order” refers to the mobilization of volunteers and non-professionals for carrying out security or defense missions, whether or not the public authorities tolerate, approve, or even initiate them. This special issue proposes to study participation in law and order as a governmental technique, far from weakening states’ prerogatives. Designed to strengthen supposedly broken social, moral, or political ties, by shaping commitment, “civility,” “civic-mindedness,” or even local sociability, this kind of participation mainly aims to produce “good citizens.” Eventually, we question the way in which participation in law and order can (or cannot) be understood, according to the contexts and its social roots, as a conservative participation, i.e., how it may contribute to the reproduction of the social and political order, beyond public security policies.