Contenu du sommaire

The deficiencies in the government's reactions towards the public health crisis generated by the heatwave found for a large part their origin in the perception frameworks which were applied to the situation. Historical schemata (droughts) and strategic ones (the supply of energy) came into play there, as well as the way the problem was assessed (the main focus being laid on the recurrent overstretching of the emergency services). The debate about who or what was responsible for the situation centered on the presentation and perception of the inadequate response from the French authorities. However the lack of any political mobilisation towards ascribing responsibility to the governing body, added to the political majority's promotion of a diluted reponsibility thesis, led to the perception and subsequent validation of a 'causal responsibility? thesis by which responsibility is assigned on admittedly unpredictable situations. The dilution of responsibility for the politicians that such an interpretation entailed has precluded calls for political or judicial sanctions.

Dependency refers to a person's incapacity to autonomously cope with daily tasks. Lately, it has become a major challenge for social security services, which France has tackled by resorting to a slow and chaotic reform process of social dependency benefits. On the one hand, this reveals a political determination not to be ex ante stopped up in running specific public action. On the other hand, this expands the steady institutional commitment to local leadership over central social security services. Although this development emphasizes a neo liberal trend, it cannot be brought down to this alone. Political confusion helps understanding the ins and outs of such changes; similarly it involves, amongst other things, knowing where we come from before anticipating where we're going to.

Over the last few years, cognitive concepts applied to public policies have exerted indisputable fascination over academics, as this is quite visible in local policy analyses. This article investigates the use that has been made of these concepts, drawing on a theoretical and empirical reflection. Narrowing down the examination focal as well as shifting the approach has made possible to disclose some common sense duplicity as well as to forsake a far too reifying and mechanist understanding of the role of ideas. The article advocates an approach centered on the notion of plurality of beliefs and encourages relying on other existing notions: for instance, the notion of "myth" in history, which accounts for the association between instant ideas and actions.

This study analyzes the role of socio-professional aspects in the vote for the Union démocratique du centre. From the post-electoral surveys « Selects » carried out after the Swiss national elections of 1999 and 2003, a plurality of indicators is considered. The analysis shows the growing weight of socio-professional dimensions in the explanation. It also shows the socially composite and interclassist character of the vote for UDC : beside its traditional basis, made up of farmers and of small independent, the share of not qualified workers increased. The vote for UDC is not thus now explained mainly by linguistic, religious or residence cleavages, traditionally mobilized to account for the electoral choice in Switzerland. On the methodological level, the study shows the relative character of the indicators used in the study of the « heavy » determinants of the vote.

This article assesses the influence of an extremely popular satirical television program – the Guignols de l'Info – on its viewers. For that matter, we drew on two surveys based on questionnaires led in the South East of France – Isère – in 2002 and 2004, as well as on semi directive interviews, both directed to secondary school students. Results were sufficiently converging to draw the conclusion that the Guignols did actually represent a major reference in the political socialisation of the youth. Indeed, the sustained wide audience and the attitudes of the viewers (level of political awareness, opinion on political leaders, or anti American opinions) equally correlate this assumption. Yet, the students' verbalization indicates that these are not always capable of keeping their distance from satire.