SCIENCES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ - N° 65 - mai 2005
The ideologies of territory policies
Edited by Lionel ARNAUD, Christian LE BART and Romain PASQUIER

Lionel ARNAUD, Christian LE BART, Romain PASQUIER, Introduction  [Text in french]
Stéphane CADIOU, Towards a « modernist » urban action : the effects of experts' discourse
Gilles PINSON, The ideology of urban projects. The analysis of urban policies
from the Anglo-Saxon precedent to the Italian « detour »
Yves PALAU, Town policies : the negation of partisan ideologies and an ideological organic matrix
Philippe TEILLET, The ideological aspect of territory recombining : the case of the « Angers model »
Valérie SALA PALA, Institutional racism in social housing policy
Jacques de MAILLARD, Law and order policies : political reorientation and local differentiation
Hélène REIGNER, The anonymous ideology of an apolitical subject : road safety
Claire VISIER, The « Mediterranean » : from political ideology to consensual discourse

NOTES DE LECTURE

 
Stéphane CADIOU, Towards a « modernist » urban action : the effects of experts' discourse

Abstract
A new focus is on cities today. They have become central places for dealing with a series of issues. In this context, the modernisation of urban action has become a platform of reflection. This article deals with the part played by a small group of experts in rationalizing a language of action to accompany the diversification of means and areas of involvement in cities. More precisely, it aims at examining the reasoning principles and effects of reality of expertise discourse.

Key words : expertise, learned discourse, urban policy, ideology, mobilization.

 
Gilles PINSON, The ideology of urban projects. The analysis of urban policies from the Anglo-Saxon precedent to the Italian « detour »

Abstract
The analysis of urban policies from the Anglo-Saxon precedent to the Italian « detour »
The ideology underlying the adoption by urban policymakers of instruments such as urban or city projects is quite ambiguous. The reading of Anglo-Saxon theories can be useful to remove this ambiguity and can lead to interpreting urban and city projects as suitable instruments for urban policies subject to neo-liberal ideology. But, by examining Italian project experience, it can be seen that project use is linked to the concrete challenges of organizing collective action in cities and may foreshadow the stabilisation of new governance devices in cities.

Keywords : governance, ideology, Marseilles, planning, project, urban policies, Turin.

 
Yves PALAU, Town policies : the negation of partisan ideologies and an ideological organic matrix

Abstract
Town policy is often seen as being un-ideological since it is carried out, often in similar terms, by governments and local elected representatives of different political leanings. However, even if the negation of partisan ideology is both the consequence and the condition of implementation of this public policy, urban politics comprise an ideological aspect. This acts as a matrix of an organic type in which the urban area is simultaneously one of the principal symptoms of present social problems and also the area which needs to be treated.

Keywords : town policies, public policies, territory, ideology, organicism, contractualisation.

 
Philippe TEILLET, The ideological aspect of territory recombining : the case of the « Angers model »

Abstract
The recombining of territories is a process presented as being pragmatic. However, with the example of the agglomeration of Angers as a starting point, it appears that this recombining prompts an ideological production (around the « Angers model ») which affects the image of the territory as well as the political work carried out within this agglomeration. Through the project of this territory building process, the article then concentrates on the mechanisms and stakes of this ideological production.

Keywords : recombining, territories, pragmatism, ideology.

 
Valérie SALA PALA, Institutional racism in social housing policy

Abstract
The evidence of ethnic discrimination in access to social housing raises the issue of social housing bodies' « racism ». In this article, we reject the assumption of a purely individual racism as well as the one of a racist ideological structure that would force itself upon all members of a given culture. We defend the assumption of an institutional racism. We shed light on the institutional mechanisms of symbolic production of ethnic boundaries. Far from being a racist aberration, the prominence of ethnicity in the representations and mental cards of local actors of social housing is coherent with their institutional universe of perceptions and practices.

Keywords : racism, ethnicity, discrimination, social housing, institution, ideology, social representations.

 
Jacques de MAILLARD, Law and order policies : political reorientation and local differentiation

Abstract
If one wants to analyse the ideas underlying local policies of urban safety, it is necessary to take several aspects of social reality into account: political discourse, programs and organisational arrangements. From this, it is clear that local policies follow mixed and changing references. Drawing on the analysis of several municipalities, we stress two major features: changes in the representation of local officials with regards to delinquency and the differentiation of local political strategies.

Keywords : cities, insecurity, political discourse, ideologies, security, partnership.

 
Hélène REIGNER, The anonymous ideology of an apolitical subject : road safety

Abstract
Road safety policies are outside party politics opposition and are not very well known. Their dominant reference focuses on deviant behaviour among drivers. Road safety researchers have long contested this sector-based reference because acts of deliberate delinquency account for only a minor part of traffic accidents. These findings, however, are not well implemented into public policies.

Keywords : road safety, policy, politics, technical debate.

 
Claire VISIER, The « Mediterranean » : from political ideology to consensual discourse

Abstract
The « Mediterranean » discourse is built to counter the ideology of the « Clash of civilizations ». M. Vauzelle is a very active militant of the Mediterranean ideology. Through his own political biography, we demonstrate that « Mediterranean discourse » does not exist at the local level as a political ideology. Unsuitable for the political management of local territories, its implementation also proves difficult locally. « Mediterranean » discourse, developed in relation to the context of European administration, nevertheless gives rise to a local mobilisation, in a consensual way of congenial social interaction.

Keywords : Mediterranean, North/ South cooperation, local communities, ideology.