Revue française de science politique 60-3, juin 2010

Camille Goirand
APPROACHES TO LATIN AMERICAN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SINCE THE 1970S
The approach using the category "new social movements", first developed in Europe, remains dominant to this day in and with regard to Latin America. After outlining the characteristics of the “grass-roots” movements that emerged in 1970s Latin America, this article points up the divergence in how those movements are discussed and approached from one continent to another. A focus on values, cultural change and identities is contrasted with perspectives based on the analysis of organizations, strategies and practices. In closing, we explore the implications of this divergence in the scientific community, particularly for the observation of processes of institutionalization of social movements as well as for that of transformations of protest movements since the turn of the millennium.

Philippe Lavigne Delville
RURAL LAND REFORM IN BENIN: EMERGENCE OF AND CHALLENGES TO POLICY REFORMS IN AN AID-DEPENDENT COUNTRY
How are public policies negotiated and designed in aid-dependent countries? In Benin, a group of policy entrepreneurs used its position in a rural development project to test new strategies for securing customary land rights and succeeded in putting the issue of rural land tenure on the political agenda. A new rural land law passed in 2007 wrought a veritable legal revolution: breaking with the colonial legacy, it paved the way for state recognition of the land rights of rural dwellers. But this revolution is now jeopardized by a change in the underlying context of the land tenure debate owing to a new donor's de facto support for the traditional registration process. Far from being a cut-and-dried opposition between “the State” and “the donors”, the situation in Benin shows that the policymaking process results from struggles between different public policy networks, each of which involves government agents, experts, donors etc., and it makes the case for a socio-anthropology of policy design processes.

Julien Étienne
COMPLIANCE THEORIES: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Though often overlooked by political scientists, the issue of regulatory compliance is the subject of a wide range of interdisciplinary literature, which is presented and discussed here. The empirical works available on the subject are copious and diverse, but wanting in a cumulative approach. The field lacks a consistent theoretical framework to allow for the multiple interacting factors that contribute to compliance. This article presents and discusses the main theoretical approaches that have been explored over the past ten years in attempts to provide such an integrated theory of compliance.

Éric Phélippeau
A PROTO-HISTORY OF CODIFICATION: THE GENESIS OF FRENCH POLITICAL FUNDING REFORM FROM 1970-1987
The French legislation on political funding is 20 years old. But the laws passed in 1988 were not sui generis: about 30 previous bills addressing the issue were introduced between 1970 and 1988. To date, however, there has been no serious treatment of the proto-history behind the 1988 legislation. This article explores the genesis of that codification, showing how the issue of French political funding gave rise to movements that would eventually define the symbolic boundaries. Finally, studying these attempts at regulation sheds some new light on the practical nexus between politicians and money and on recent changes in politics.

CHRONIQUE PROFESSIONNELLE

Emiliano Grossman
THE PUBLICATION STRATEGIES OF FRENCH POLITICAL SCIENTISTS: ACCOUNTING FOR CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE
This paper analyzes the publication strategies of French political scientists based on online polling figures from 2009. The figures reveal a great diversity of publication strategies, probably due to the lack of unity in French political science scholarship. It also points up the widespread disconnect between membership of the core academic community and international publication strategies. This cleavage at least partly coincides with a methodological divide. French political science is thus characterized by several deep divisions that seem hard to overcome, despite the existence of some common ground, i.e. a certain number of “neutral” journals.