L’adoption du projet de loi 112 au Québec : le produit d’une mobilisation ou une simple question de conjoncture politique ?

Cet article propose une compréhension du processus politique qui a conduit à l’adoption de la Loi visant à lutter contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale à l’automne 2002 au Québec. Après avoir formalisé la structure normale de représentation au Québec selon six dimensions, l’article montre comment la mobilisation autour du Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté a permis un renversement temporaire de cette structure. Deux éléments apparaissent, à cet égard, particulièrement importants : l’investissement de l’arène législative par le Collectif et la production, par les personnes pauvres elles-mêmes, des solutions mises de l’avant dans le projet de loi.This paper is an attempt to apprehend the political process that resulted in the adoption of Bill 112 (fall 2002), the Quebec Law against poverty and social exclusion. The first part of the paper describes the “normal” structure of representation in the Quebec society along six dimensions. The second part shows how the social mobilisation of the Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté has successfully (but temporarily) modified the political process. Two elements appear central : the fact that the Collectif had invested the legislative arena and the fact that poor people were themselves producing the political solutions of the bill

The Mobilization against the 2005 treaty establishing a constitution for Europe : a French mobilization for another Europe

Why did a majority of French voters reject the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe in the 2005 referendum? We argue here that the collective mobilization of the left-wing ‘No’ camp made the decisive difference through its formation of ‘Collectifs pour le non’, a coalition which facilitated the public expression of an anti-liberal and pro-European position capable of bringing together the Green and Socialist electorates, along with other parts of the left. Using a comprehensive analysis of the multi-organizational field of protest constituted by the mobilization of the left-wing ‘No’ camp, we show first that the mobilization was a ‘European affair’, in the sense that it developed a pro-European position in the context of struggles against liberal forces. Second, we show that the mobilization was also a ‘French’ affair because it relied on the high valuation of the ‘national’ mode of belonging, through the defence of the French state model

Globalization and the collective action of the socially excluded in France : At the heart of the margins?

In this article, we consider the changing relationships between French ‘have-not’ movements (the unemployed, the homeless, undocumented persons) and the main organizations involved in the alter-globalization field from 1995 to 2005. We demonstrate how the building of the global space of protest in France was punctuated by two moments. The first corresponds to the gradual convergence of social actors around the issue of globalization, translated into a renewal of activists’ discourses, the development of multiple scales of mobilizations and a functional division of tasks among actors. The second moment corresponds more to the crystallization of divisions among them. These divisions are articulated around different conceptions of what the struggle's aims should be (a fight against liberalism or an alternative experiment) and differences regarding the sense of belonging to the global space of protest (transnational networks or national territory). The history of convergence placed the have-nots at the heart of alter-globalist mobilizations, whereas the history of divergence translated into a ‘decentering’ of the place of the have-nots within this space. Their progressive marginalization also reveals the transformations of struggles against globalization in France

Marginalization and Transnationalizing Movements: How Does One Relate to the Other?

The main objective of this chapter is to address the following theoretical issue: How are the transnationalization and the marginalization processes related? We suggest that in order to understand more accurately how marginalized people’s movements and transnationalization processes are embedded, we need to open our understanding of transnationalization processes to see what the actors do when they build transnationalizing movements. In order to analyze experiences of poor people’s movement transnationalizing, we propose first to consider transnationalization as a social practice of solidarities building and second, as practices of “translation,” a search of recognition beyond borders

Aux frontières mouvantes des mouvements sociaux, ou quand les partis politiques s’en mêlent : le cas du souverainisme au Québec

Le concept de mouvement social, dans sa définition usuelle, fait référence à l’ensemble des militants et des organisations, qui, structurés plus ou moins formellement en réseaux, développent des actions concertées en faveur d’une cause plus ou moins définie. Quelle que soit l’approche théorique considérée, les organisations du mouvement social sont présentées comme distinctes de partis politiques perçus comme des acteurs de la politique institutionnelle, intervenant au sein de l’arène électorale. Dans cette perspective, les partis politiques et les mouvements sociaux entretiennent évidemment des relations, mais sont présentés comme opérant sur des terrains de jeux disjoints : la représentation politique institutionnalisée pour les uns, le champ de la protestation sociale pour les autres. Pourtant, la « frontière » entre participation politique institutionnelle et extra-institutionnelle est on ne peut plus poreuse. Dans cet article, nous soutenons que, dans certaines configurations de mouvements sociaux, les partis politiques peuvent faire partie intégrante du mouvement social dont ils sont issus et en constituent même les acteurs pivots. En basant notre démonstration sur le cas du mouvement souverainiste au Québec et sa transformation au cours des 40 dernières années, nous montrons comment le Parti québécois et le Bloc québécois se trouvent au coeur de la mouvance souverainiste et contribuent encore, vaille que vaille, à la définition d’un mouvement qui les dépasse.The usual definition of social movement refers to activists and organizations, more or less structured in networks, which developed concerted actions in favour of a claim, more or less defined. Whatever the theoretical background considered, social movement organisations are presented as distinct from political parties. Political parties are playing in the electoral arena and are the main actors of institutional politics. In that respect, political parties and social movements are known to interact, but they are supposed to play in two distinct fields : institutional political representation for political parties and social protests for social movements. Yet, the border between institutional and extra-institutional politics is very permeable. In this article, we argue that, in certain social movement configurations, political parties could be an integral part of the social movements from which they emerge, and could even constitute central actors. Our analysis is based on the sovereignist movement in Québec and the study of its transformation through the last 40 years. We show how the Parti québécois and the Bloc québécois are at the centre of the sovereignist movement and still contribute to the definition of a movement that goes beyond their own organisations