Search

While there is a growing interest in citizen-led initiatives, there is still no consensus on how to situate them, especially in relation to state institutions. On the one hand, citizen-led initiatives are seen as being co-opted by formal institutions in a context of austerity. On the other hand, these initiatives are often presented as "spaces of resistance" to neoliberalism, or as political acts of reclaiming the city. Mapping and tracing urban gardening and dumpster diving from their grassroots emergence to their inclusion in the institutional world through a two-level analysis, we show that individuals and loosely organized collectives involved in such initiatives are embedded in complex relationships with local institutions and third sector organizations that do, in turn, structure their practice and its consequences. The two-level analysis we propose follows this process: it is through interactions and relationships with other "practitioners" and with their social and institutional environment that these urban social practices gradually institutionalize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public engagement has been one of the most prolific fields of democratic practice in the last two decades thanks to the rapid dissemination of a wide variety of participatory tools [...]

Copyright of Lien Social et Politiques is the property of Institut National de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2010.00505.x Byline: LAURENCE BHERER (1) Abstract: ABSTRACT: The objective of this article is to explore some of the reasons for the growing number of participatory arrangements at the local level. An approach in terms of governance allows us to examine the underlying patterns of logic that induce public authorities to develop new policy tools such as participatory arrangements. Our study focuses on a medium-sized French city, Bordeaux, where eight types of relatively weak participatory arrangements have been implemented since 1995. The article shows that the French government and European Union have fostered this type of arrangement through a complex series of public programs and policies with the aim of rebuilding their political legitimacy by encouraging participation at the municipal level. This approach is relevant to understanding the origin of the reforms affecting local governments over the past decade. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Montreal Article note: Direct correspondence to: Laurence Bherer, Universite de Montreal, Departement de Science Politique, Pavillon M. Caron-L. Groulx, bureau c-4041, 3150 Rue Jean-Brillant, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada. E-mail: laurence.bherer@umontreal.ca.

Dans les ecrits sur les regroupements municipaux, les arguments generalement invoques en faveur ou a l'encontre des fusions sont au nombre de quatre. Pour les promoteurs, les fusions permettent l'amelioration [...]