Les coalitions mutiniveaux d'action publique. Un modèle interprétatif des conflits pour l'eau dans les Amériques

Cet article propose une approche analytique des conflits et de l'action publique en matière de gestion des eaux urbaines basée sur les coalitions multi-niveaux d'action publique. Cette dernière est rendue nécessaire pour articuler quatre niveaux d’analyse : replacer les luttes sociales et politiques pour l'accès à l'eau ainsi que la variable politique au centre de l'analyse ; analyser les effets de la « transition écologique », dont le changement climatique, comme de simples enjeux sociopolitiques appropriés par les protagonistes des conflits et de l'action publique ; réintroduire ces luttes et enjeux dans une approche multi-niveaux, c'est-à-dire sortir des seules dimensions territoriales ou inversement internationales ; interroger l'apparente contradiction, dans l'action publique contemporaine, entre le renforcement de l'hétérogénéité des logiques d'action publique d'une part, et la constitution d'espaces relativement homogènes de pouvoir, de décision et d'action d'autre part. L'article propose une définition des coalitions multi-niveaux comme des systèmes de préférences collectifs qui influencent le contenu des politiques publiques (idées/causes, décisions, instruments, dispositifs) et leur implémentation ; des rassemblements d'acteurs qui émergent des mobilisations sur des enjeux de politique publique (définition des prix de l'eau ; installation d'un nouveau captage ; négociation d'un nouveau contrat de mise en service, etc.) ; mais des rassemblements, souvent très hétéroclites, qui se définissent aussi par des systèmes d'écarts entre eux ; et, enfin, des groupes d'acteurs qui s'inscrivent dans le processus d'étirement des politiques entre l'international et le territorial, et pris dans l'enchevêtrement et les circulations entre ces niveaux de l'action publique. Les conflits et les luttes de l'action publique sur l'eau s'entendent alors à la fois comme l'opposition entre ces coalitions porteuses de représentations des enjeux et de solutions pour y répondre, et comme des systèmes d'écarts sociologiques entre les membres de ces coalitions. Dans une première partie, l'article présente les objectifs d'une recherche sur la gestion des eaux urbaines dans les Amériques dans le cadre duquel est forgée cette approche analytique par les coalitions multi-niveaux. Dans une seconde partie, l'article détail les quatre défis analytiques. Dans la troisième partie, l'article présente une définition des coalitions multi-niveaux

Retreat into scientism, paradoxes of transparency, and corruption in education

Um dos sintomas da razão indolente (SANTOS, 2006) é o recuo ao cientificismo, o qual tem sido, particularmente, acentuado nas políticas, cada vez mais hegemônicas, de avaliação, de prestação de contas e de responsabilização. Por isso, um dos objetivos deste texto é o de colocar em causa este aparente consenso cientificista (ou este consenso supostamente transideológico) e fazer uma breve incursão exploratória ao que aqui se designa de paradoxos da transparência. Considera-se que esses paradoxos traduzem a existência de tensões e contradições relativas a uma dimensão central dos discursos políticos e educacionais contemporâneos. Com isso, o artigo pretende dar continuidade a uma linha de pesquisa que tem procurado sublinhar a relevância da necessidade de complexificar e dar maior rigor teórico-conceptual à accountability em educação. Finalmente, tentando abrir caminho para o desenvolvimento de novas articulações e análises, chama-se a atenção para a corrupção na educação cuja complexidade ainda é insuficientemente conhecida e pesquisada, nomeadamente, nas suas relações com as problemáticas da transparência e da accountability. Admite-se que as práticas de corrupção em educação, em muitas situações, são (paradoxalmente) induzidas pela necessidade de dar resposta à governação baseada nos números, nos rankings e nas (supostas) evidências, anulando completamente as expectativas legítimas em torno da transparência dos processos educacionais e das decisões políticas.One symptom of “indolent reason” (SANTOS, 2006) is the retreat into scientism, which is especially marked in the increasingly hegemonic policies surrounding assessment, reporting and accountability. As such, one of the aims of this paper is to call into question this apparent consensus on scientism (a supposedly trans-ideological consensus), and briefly explore what we define as the paradoxes of transparency. These paradoxes are found to reveal the existence of tensions and contradictions concerning a central aspect of current political and educational discourse. In doing so, the article seeks to continue a line of study which has aimed to emphasize the significance of the need for a more complex, and theoretically and conceptually rigorous understanding of accountability in education. Finally, in an attempt to pave the way for further discussion and analysis, attention is drawn to corruption in education, the complex nature of which remains insufficiently understood and studied, notably in terms of its relationship with the problems of transparency and accountability. It is acknowledged that practices of corruption within education are, in many situations, (paradoxically) caused by the need to answer to a system of governance based on numbers, league tables, and (supposed) truths, completely nullifying legitimate expectations about the transparency of educational processes and policy decisions.Trabalho financiado por Fundos Nacionais através da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – no âmbito do Projeto PEst-OE/CED/UI1661/2014.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

France in the 1990s : How Judges Came to the Private Sector and Why Their Skills Were Valued

France in the 90s saw some judges being recruited as "judicial experts" by a few big French companies. Although only a handful of judges and a few firms were involved the phenomenon is worth analysing. On the one hand the transfer of judges to the private sector could be considered particularly striking because from an historical perspective the basic principles of conduct in the public and private sectors have been considered to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. More precisely, a neutral approach to the search for money and power would not normally be considered compatible with a search for market share. On the other hand the way in which the institutions have adjusted to this possibility is revealing. The means are apparently now available to give judges leave of absence to work in the private sector while safeguarding their old job for them should they ever need it. In parallel to this the recruitment of judges has also begun to change the definition of what constitutes acceptable business practice in the private sector. This paper attempts to explain how it is that some French firms have come to value the French judicial ability so highly. By focusing on the transformations in the relative strengths of the different parties in France in the 1990s that have lead to the rise of a new economic order, the paper shows how the private sector became interested in judges with a particular expertise in certain economic matters while at the same time these judges have taken advantage of the new historical context to put into practice their conception of the way of how business principles should be elaborated by emphasising preventive judicial risk

La conversion d'un savoir judiciaire en un capital symbolique au service de multinationales françaises

International audienceBy focusing on the transformations of the field of power in France during the '90s that led to the rise of a new economic order, this paper shows how the private sector became interested in judges with a particular expertise in certain economic matters. By emphasizing preventive judicial risk, these judges have simultaneously taken advantage of the new historical context to put into practice their conception of how business principles should be elaborated.Depuis la deuxième moitié des années 1990, on observe en France un phénomène inédit dans le secteur privé : des magistrats de l'ordre judiciaire ont été recrutés par de grands patrons. Bien que ce fait soit circonscrit et ne concerne que quelques magistrats, il n'en demeure pas moins significatif des transformations du monde économique et de la représentation du corps judiciaire. Au regard des principes tant de l'univers judiciaire que du secteur privé, le rapprochement du magistrat et de l'entrepreneur ne va pas de soi. L'article propose de restituer la logique de cette rencontre improbable et suggère une interprétation à propos de l'attraction que suscite la compétence judiciaire pour le secteur privé. Les mutations qui affectent le champ du pouvoir ont créé les conditions d'une porosité entre des univers aux normes différenciées, permis la valorisation de trajectoires d'exception et amorcé le transfert d'une approche préventive des risques judiciaires au cœur même de l'entreprise

The semi-arid area of the Sun Corridor, Pima County (AZ)

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Legitimités asymétriques et hybridations organisationnelles face à l'importation de pratiques étrangères : le secteur de l'eau en Allemagne

International audienceIn the reunified Germany, municipalities and professional associations have reacted differently to the introduction of foreign private operators into the water sector which is traditionally regarded as public and local. This fact leads us to question the relevance of the analysis of organizational change put forward by both new institutionalism in sociology and policy transfer approaches. Indeed, these two approaches overlook the importance of political dynamics in the acceptance or the rejection of a foreign standard. By highlighting the conflicting legitimacies and organizational combinations that have arisen in the German water sector following the attempts to partially privatize the urban services, this article suggests that the decision of whether or not to import foreign private management practices in this sector should be correlated to the local issues and interests at work. The authors therefore show how much the process of the institutionalization of an organizational change, through a transfer of norms coming from abroad, is something that can hardly be taken for granted depending as it does on local configurations.Dans l'Allemagne réunifiée, les municipalités et les associations professionnelles ont réagi différemment face à l'arrivée d'opérateurs privés étrangers dans le secteur de l'eau, traditionnellement public et local. Ce constat invite à reconsidérer l'analyse des changements organisationnels proposée par les thèses du nouvel institutionnalisme sociologique et celles du transfert des politiques publiques. En effet, celles-ci ne prennent pas suffisamment en compte les dynamiques politiques qui interrogent ou entravent l'adoption de modèles exogènes. En révélant les conflits de légitimité et les compromis organisationnels que suscite la privatisation partielle du secteur de l'eau en Allemagne, l'article suggère à quel point les manières d'importer (ou non) un dispositif d'origine étrangère dépendent des enjeux et des intérêts locaux. Il montre ainsi combien l'institutionnalisation d'un changement organisationnel, par transfert, est loin d'aller de soi, et varie selon les configurations d'acteurs en présence

Gouverner le local à l’Est de l’Europe : acteurs publics et acteurs économiques transnationaux

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Delivering more than water: The Salt River Project:the invention of an adaptive partnership of water management

This paper establishes the complexity of determining the "public" or "private" nature of water delivery systems, by analyzing the genesis and evolution of one water system in the Western U.S.: the Salt River Project. The kind of cooperative model that has most often been documented in small coops in developing countries can also be seen in the U.S. with its vast socio-technical network that has been developed since 1900. Originally mainly an effort to help rural farmers, the Salt River Project has undergone a shift towards an emphasis on economic and urban growth and servicing major cities in central Arizona. How this shift was possible and its current implications are problematized in light of sustainability of the SRP model despite increasing water scarcity in the Wes

Du Reclamation Act de 1902 aux méga-projets federaux: Une perspective socio-historique sur la genèse des politiques hydriques aux USA : le cas de l'Ouest étatsunien

Cet article se propose d’apporter un éclairage aux problèmes de pénurie d’eau que vit actuellement l’ouest des Etats-Unis. A travers un travail de reconstitution historique des politiques hydriques de la région, l’article défend l’idée que la pénurie d’eau actuelle doit se comprendre, en partie, comme le résultat de l’action des élites économiques, politiques et administratives qui ont conçu les politiques hydriques aux USA. Plus concrètement, la pénurie d’eau, au-delà du cycle de sécheresse actuel, est le résultat de la production d’une vision du développement économique traversée par des intérêts et des logiques contradictoires relatifs à l’exploitation des ressources naturelles, largement conçue comme un facteur déterminant de croissance

Reinventing water conservation

In a context of uncertainty linked to the ecological transition, the issue of managing the scarcity of natural resources has become an essential factor in the study of environmental policy (Markard, Raven, ruffer, 2012; Lubell, 2013; Hornberger, Hess, Gilligan, 2015). Faced with the collective ideals of the “governance of the commons,” (Ostrom, 1990; Ingold, 2008) crisis situations are particularly revealing of ongoing changes (Bakker, 2010; Barraqué, 2011; Lascoumes, 2012). From this point of view, the drought that has affected the American Southwest for the last fifteen years illustrates the difficulties encountered in terms of regulating the environmental impact of human activities (Lynn-Ingram, Malamud-Roam, 2013). Tis chapter aims to examine the implementation of ecological measures in water policies which, traditionally, have been subordinated to the imperatives of the region’s economic development (Worster, 1985; Reisner, 1986; Pincetl, 2011)