Contenu du sommaire : Quand les associations remplacent l'État ?

Non profit organizations and government: toward a convergence of relationship patterns in Europe
The paper shows that the American non profit sector is very different of the European one in its scope and its relationships with the public sector. The European model of government-non profit partnership may be shifted into five clusters: Anglo-Saxon, corporatist, Nordic, Mediterranean and post-communist. Since the first years of the millennium and especially after the 2007 recession we can observe a convergence of cluster's patterns. France, which is a hybrid and hard to classify country, can draw lessons of the diversity and the evolution of government-non profit relationships in other States.

Partnerships between the State and Philanthropic Foundations in Quebec: genesis, contestation and post-mortem of a reform of public actionIn Quebec, relations between State and voluntary sector have been played in pairs since the 1960s. However, in the last decade, a third player executed a pivotal role: the philanthropic foundations. At the heart of these new relations are formal partnerships between government and the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. These agreements have reactivated some tensions related to the associations' request for autonomy. Although in a period of budgetary austerity, foundations have also been questioning the decline of social State. Our article aims to retrace the emergence of these public-philanthropic partnerships in order to enlighten the triangular dynamics and debates around the role of the State, foundations and community organizations.

Le projet de Big Society au Royaume-Uni : privatisation ou démocratisation des services publics ?
The Big Society was one of three priorities of Prime Minister David Cameron after his election in 2010. Rarely had a Western government given such a high profile to the community or to the civil society sphere. The article traces the evolution of an opaque and ultimately doomed public policy. Special attention is paid to the role of the Community Organisers Programme, one of the defining, if ambiguous, strands of the Big Society vision. The article presents a critical consideration of the effectiveness to date of the Big Society in its declared objective of achieving sustainable, long term community empowerment by giving a greater role to civil society.

The Role of Business Improvement Districts in Restructuring New York City's Public Services
Legislation passed in the 1980s allows property owners in New York City to create Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), i.e. nonprofit organizations aimed at improving the business environment in designated areas. In the context of massive cutbacks in NYC's sanitation department, BIDs have come to play an important role in the restructuring of the city's public services. The new labor division between the city and the private sector is based on the exploitation of a labor force recruited among the weakest categories of the population as well as using the labor force of those sentenced to community services.

Trends and Changes in the Public Funding of Associations
The periodical surveys (called “Paysage associatif”) analysing the evolution of non profit sector financing document an increasing privatization over time of the resources of such bodies, which relies on users' financial participation in the services provided, an increasing role played by district councils (Conseils départmentaux) and the transformation of public financing modalities in the sense that direct public subsidies are dwindling and public procurement is booming. These transformations have an impact on the development of the non profit sector by increasing its role as social public policy operator and by setting up social public policies priorties according to the solvency of the categories of users. Lastly these transformations speed up inequalities within local associative networks which are now largely dependent on local financing capabilities.

From historical « social economy » to new « social and solidarity economy » : a new configuration of relationships between non-profit sector and public bodiesIn France, a 2014 legislative act gave a dedicated legal framework to a specific form of companies whose corporate object is intended to pursue social values. The context of this act is marked by a new role of civil society which is tasked by public bodies to deliver numerous social policies (social cohesion, insertion, education, environment...). It is then worth differencing non-profit practices arising from “social economy” approach, in the sense of the historical movement that took root at the beginning of the XIX˚ century, from the “social and solidarity economy” in the sense of a group of bodies which may be considered as key players in the field of social innovation cutting across the boundaries between private and public sectors.

Non profit organizations serving employment policies. The example of the public policy aiming at the professionalization of the non-profit sectorSince the 1980s, people working in the not for profit sector enjoyed significant paid employment. While this dynamic is partly the result of the reorganization of the welfare state, this article shows that non-profit organizations have also benefitted from unemployment reduction policies. Through the study of the history of state employment policies and of a dedicate public policy aimed at the professionalization of non profit organizations, the author observes that the State gradually took less interest in non-profit organizations for their social utility and more for their role in the economy, their ability to mobilize capital and market resources and for their capacity to create employment.

The School Paces Reform or when non profit organizations make the policy and (un)make the public work
Partly elaborated by nonprofits organizations in the education sector and the educational network of local authorities, the French reform of paces in elementary schools not only recognizes non profit' knowledge and expertise, but also creates a new workspace for them within the school institution. Locally declined in a strongly contrasted way, the reform's implementation multiplies workers contracts but makes them precarious at the same time: workers may be public or private, permanent, temporary or volunteers. Therefore the reform probably reveals less of a power redistribution from State to nonprofits and local authorities than a new mesh of governmentality and public work which largely blurs the frontiers between public and private at the core of the public service.

Data control, a major issue for naturalistic associations at the age of biodiversity governance
This article deals with the change in relations between naturalist associations and State in the framework of global biodiversity governance. The adoption of biodiversity as a policy standard leads to a process of rationalization of the data sets produced by the associations. The article argues that the production of data by associations is based on scientific foundations whilst being embedded in local context and various range of attachments. It concludes in pointing out that this kind of resistance set up by the associations against the process of normalisation and of practice of open data are significant of the strength of the links which prevail within the associations and reveals their local political role.

Transformations of cross checks between public authorities and non-profit sector in the disability fieldThis article rests upon a longitudinal check study in the Rhône-Alpes area analyzing the transformation of cross checks relationships between non profit organizations acting as operators for the State and public authorities in the disability field. Governing at a distance relationships succeed to more interpersonal ones while salaried executives take power within the non profit organizations. With the help of public authorities, the balance of power between big and small organizations remains stable but the relationships between them are becoming more diverse and less personal, decoupled from activist concerns.

A double edged sword? Use of PPP and fiscal risks control
Long term public-procurement contracts, as for instance public-private partnerships, can make sense from the economic point of view, through their capacity to limit the fiscal risks associated to public projects. However, this risk mitigation cannot be an absolute one. Not only some of the risks cannot be fully transferred to the private partner but also the contractual and financial architecture implemented may generate new fiscal risks which are imperfectly taken into consideration in public accounts.

Why do rioters attack public facilities and services?
In France, during urban riots that occur for around forty years, many of the rioters attacked State symbols and destroyed public facilities. The incidents have continued unabated since the early 2000s even as public authorities provided huge resources to renovate disadvantaged urban areas. This article seeks to account for this apparent paradox. It argues that French public authorities have failed to take into consideration the local people' desire for partnership and for social recognition thereby nurturing the resentment of large sections of the population.