Revue française de science politique 65-4, Aout 2014

Anne Muxel

TALKING POLITICS IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: AN INTIMATE POLITICIZATION

Political science and electoral studies in France have not focused much on the different ways in which political topics and electoral choices are debated at home. Who talks about politics and with whom? Are individuals happy to say who they vote for? What topics are most likely to cause conflict? Exploring family ties, couple relationships and friendship, the empirical results from quantitative and specific surveys conducted in France at the Cevipof show how much individuals are related to politics also affectively. They underline the importance of what might be called "an intimate politicization". This “intimate politicization” plays a role alongside political and social factors, explaining how people interact with politics and can be just as decisive and perhaps even more so.

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti

POLITICS AND RELIGION IN THE LISBON TREATY: TOWARDS A MODEL OF CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY?

This article seeks to demonstrate the heuristic utility of an ideal-type of “Christian Democracy” to understand how the relations between politics and religion are structured within the framework of the treaty that founds the European Union. The first part is dedicated to a theoretical reconstruction of this ideal-type of “Christian Democracy”, empahsizing its specificity with respect to the notions of “secularism” and “laicité”. The second part proposes a reading of the treaty of Lisbon through the theoretical prism offered by these three notions, highlighting the elements that resonate with the first and therefore challenge the idea that the European Union can be adequately described as secular or laique.

Emmanuelle Fillion, Didier Torny

FROM PERSONAL REPARATION TO THE SHAPING OF A COLLECTIVE CAUSE: DES VICTIMS GETTING INTO COURTS

From the case of a drug that caused serious damage over large populations – diethylstilbestrol – this article offers a sociological analysis of victims' legal mobilizations. It is conducted in two aspects: on the one hand, the work produced by victims within and on law, on the other hand the back effects of law on victims, their collective and their causes, through the different stages of legal procedures. We highlight a constant tension between a singular judicial experience, marked by isolation and opacity, and the development of a “DES litigation” which plays a key role in the collectivization and the publicization of a public health cause.

Gilles Dorronsoro, Benjamin Gourisse

INSTITUTIONAL AUTONOMY, COALITION FORMATION AND THE MAKING OF POLITICAL CRISES: THE TURKISH ARMY IN POLITICS

Until the 2000s, the army is constantly involved in the political life of the Republic of Turkey. To explain this feature, the paper shows that the military interventions, far from responding to crises of the political sector, are both the results of the internal dynamics of the army and coalitions whose army is the backbone. This dual dynamics of empowerment of the military institution and intervention in politics via coalition formation highlights the mechanisms that allow an institutional actor to create crises and through this, to settle in the heart of the political game.