Action collective et négociation de politiques publiques

National audienceL'analyse de l'élaboration des politiques publiques a progressivement émergé comme objet de recherche mais aussi comme composante de la "science administrative" à partir des années 50, aux Etats-Unis puis peu après en Europe, avec le développement de l'interventionnisme étatique et du Welfare state. A la frontière de plusieurs disciplines, l'analyse des politiques publiques est généralement rattachée au domaine des sciences politiques, mais elle possède aussi des articulations fortes avec l'économie et la sociologie. Si l'étude des politiques publiques ne ressort pas directement des courants de recherche centrés sur l'action collective, elle y fait néanmoins référence à travers l'analyse des processus de leur élaboration. C'est notamment le cas des approches basées sur la recherche de rente qui ont largement alimenté la vision utilitariste de l'Etat propre au courant du Public choice. Les choix de politiques publiques constituent ainsi un objectif central de nombreuses stratégies de lobbying. Dans cette perspective, on peut considérer les politiques publiques comme le résultat de processus d'action collective associant des acteurs publics et privés. Et la compréhension des mécanismes de construction de ces politiques (qu'elles soient agricoles, territoriales ou environnementales) offre un éclairage supplémentaire du domaine de l'action collective. L'exposé se fera en trois temps : un aperçu de la genèse et du développement de l'analyse des politiques publiques comme objet de recherche avec quelques repères sur les principales écoles de pensées existantes. Une bibliographie commentée permettra aux personnes intéressées d'approfondir cette dimension

Haploinsufficiency of the Pten tumor suppressor gene promotes prostate cancer progression

The PTEN gene encodes a lipid phosphatase that negatively regulates the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway and is inactivated in a wide variety of malignant neoplasms. High rates of loss of heterozygosity are observed at the 10q23.3 region containing the human PTEN gene in prostate cancer and other human malignancies, but the demonstrated rate of biallelic inactivation of the PTEN gene by mutation or homozygous deletion is significantly lower than the rate of loss of heterozygosity. The transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate model is a well characterized animal model of prostate cancer. Analysis of prostate cancer progression in transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate mice bred to Pten(+/−) heterozygous mice, coupled with analysis of the Pten gene and protein in the resulting tumors, reveals that haploinsufficiency of the Pten gene promotes the progression of prostate cancer in this model system. This observation provides a potential explanation for the discordance in rates of loss of heterozygosity at 10q23 and biallelic PTEN inactivation observed in prostate cancer and many human malignancies

The competing kings of cotton: (re)framing the WTO African cotton initiative

Since 2003, the West and Central African (WCA) cotton initiative in the World Trade Organization has stood as an ambitious case of Africa's desire to be integrated into the trading system and yet also receive reparations for past injuries. This article seeks to explore how and why the initiative debuted through close attention to the interdependence between power and language in diplomatic practice. It takes the concept of cognitive framing to explore the relationship between political legitimacy and mobilisation capacities. The genesis of cotton as 'an issue' is critically examined, focusing on how the WCA countries constructed a novel 'competitive victim' frame to define themselves and the problem. While this opening move was effective, it also featured tensions that were exploited by Northern actors who were threatened by the campaign. I argue that what followed was the introduction of a politically driven 'counterframe', which divided the problem into a 'trade-related' component and a 'development-related' component. It is important to understand why and how this distinction was constructed and monitored. By scrutinising the relationship between framing and institutional power, I suggest that the counterframe won over the original frame, leading to a re-positioning of the demanders and a re-calibration of their expectations