Gouvernement & action publique 04-1, janvier-mars 2015

STRENGTHENING THE FEDERAL STATE THROUGH IDENTIFICATION PAPERS: AMERICAN FEDERALISM AND THE 2005 DRIVER'S LICENSE REFORM
For a decade, the United States have strengthened the laws aimed at protecting themselves against criminality on the one hand, terrorism on the other hand, and last, illegal immigration. Within this framework, the legislation supervising the driver’s licenses has been revised in 2005. This paper retraces the origin, the nature and the enlarged context of this reform. It shows that the Federal State has strengthened its power, by reorganizing its administrations. It finally led it to provide a similar answer to the "figures of threat", to homogenize identification practices, and to better control immigration movement both at the frontiers and within the territory. In spite of this growing strength, we suggest that American federalism has been maintained. It means that federalism does not always stand for a “weak State”.

PUBLIC POLICY AND LEGITIMATION IN A MULTILEVEL ENVIRONMENT: EXPLORING POLICY FEEDBACKS IN BELGIUM
This paper addresses the issue of the European Union and regional governments’ respective legitimacy, and investigates the contribution of European and regional policies to the legitimation of both level of government through the lens of policy feedbacks. Two main issues are addressed: have shifts of policy responsibilities toward the EU and regional governments impacted each level of government’s legitimacy? Furthermore, do legitimation processes of each level interact with one another in a cumulative way? The paper is designed as an exploratory case of the feedback effects of European environmental policy and regional education policy in Belgium on citizens’ preferences for each level of government. The paper argues that the European environmental policy triggered an increase in EU legitimacy, whereas regional education policy had
mixed effects in Flanders and Wallonia.

“PLAYING AS A TEAM” IN A FRAGMENTED TERRITORY
The Political Economy of Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture in the reconfiguration of urban governance
The bid of Marseille-Provence to become the 2013-European Capital of Culture will be questioned to understand the current recomposition of urban power within this territory. This text will examine the prevalence of economic factors over the decision-making process of the bid. This lends credence to the neo-marxist geographical analysis. However, we will wonder if it stands as a turning point in the interactions between local elected officials and economic actors, since resources of authority and capital of legitimisation have been reallocated and a new territory for public policies enforcement founded. On the one hand, and accordingly to the urban governance approach’s criticism, it occurred not to the extent that political actors gave the key of local power to the business leaders. On the other hand, and questioning some of theses neo-institutionalist findings, the “playing as a team” leitmotiv – and therefore, the “collective actor” – has not performed effectively, and show itself unable to overcome the political struggles. But, a new division of political labour has been tested at large scale during the Capital experience and has reconfigured the territorialised political exchange.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE STATE THROUGH THE PRISM OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. THE CASE OF AMERICAN STRATEGIC TRADE CONTROL POLICY
By integrating concepts and methods from the fields of international relations and the sociology of public action, this article aims at contributing to the study of the state’s transformations by mobilizing an international relations approach to the sociology of the state. The relationship between the domestic and international dimensions of the capacity of the state remains a blind spot in the literature. Based upon a wide range of primary sources (including 170 interviews), this study shows the evolution in the post-Cold War era of the US “state capacity” in an issue area as regalian as export controls on strategic goods under the impact of both domestic and international pressures. Through the prism of international relations, it is possible to contribute to the analysis of the state by providing a new perspective on the classical dichotomy strong state/weak state and on the concept of “state capacity”.