Metropolitics

Political Conservatism and the Working Classes in France

David Gouard & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-01-25T06:00:00Z

In her latest book, Le Vote FN au village (“The National Front Vote in the Village”), sociologist Violaine Girard presents a rigorous study of working-class trajectories “in search of respectability.” Resisting any temptation to offer an overarching, oversimplistic vision of the far-right vote, this work instead skillfully makes use of a municipal monograph to examine a village's political ecosystem in detail.
Since the late 2000s, studies of electoral behavior in France have sought to

- Reviews / periurban, local councillors, village, suburbs, elections, Front national, mayors, far right wing

Silent Suppression: How Local Politicians Stifle Collective Action in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Julien Talpin & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-10-19T05:00:00Z

Taking as its starting point a study of a neighborhood roundtable in the northern French city of Roubaix, this article examines the discreet but effective way in which public institutions, and local politicians in particular, have sought to thwart the collective action organized by local residents regarding an urban-renewal project. Working-class neighborhoods are all too often described as political deserts, but this experience shows this couldn't be further from the truth, and that in fact

- Debates / France, participation, housing, democracy, working-class neighborhoods, urban renewal, local councillors, local democracy, urban regeneration, Roubaix, working classes, associations, Lille, mobilization, Hauts-de-France, Northern France, Nord–Pas-de-Calais

In the shadow of the mayor

Michel Koebel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-06-25T04:55:00Z

After his investigation into the representativeness of local councillors in France, Michel Koebel has now turned his attention to the selection and sociology of cabinet members in medium-sized municipalities in France. This study highlights the hierarchy and ranking processes at play in local councils and the importance of “social filtering” according to age, gender and profession.
---- Series: Local elections as seen by the social sciences
Multiple factors come into play when French

- From the Field / democracy, local councillors, local democracy, municipal, elections, mayors

Municipal socialism in France from the interwar period to the 1970s

Aude Chamouard & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-04-30T04:55:00Z

“Municipal socialism” has marked the history of many cities in France (Lille, Toulouse and Bordeaux, to name but three). The period between the two world wars saw the rise of the great figures of the Socialist Party – following in the footsteps of Henri Sellier – on the political landscape of urban France. But how did they differ from other elected representatives? And is it true to say they espoused an innovative form of local government? Following the recent municipal elections in France, we

- From the Field / France, local government, local authorities, local councillors, local democracy, municipal, Parti socialiste, municipal socialism, Socialist Party, patronage

Intercommunality, or the broken promises of local democracy

Stéphane Cadiou & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-01-16T12:05:47Z

As a new territorial reform is set to be enacted in France, what lessons can be learned from past reforms? In La Politique confisquée, Fabien Desage and David Guéranger describe a “backdrop of disenchantment” with regard to intermunicipal structures: mayors appear to have monopolised these new “intercommunalities”, with representative democracy seemingly replaced by something more opaque.
In France, intercommunalities – intermunicipal structures covering several communes (municipalities) that

- Reviews / governance, local councillors, intercommunality, local democracy, territorial reform

Participatory democracy in France: subsumed by local politics

Rémi Lefebvre & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-01-09T15:06:59Z

In spite of the development of new forms of participatory democracy, turnout at local elections in France has never been lower. Far from rejuvenating “local democracy”, the experiences of participation tend instead to reinforce local powers that are increasingly distanced from electors.
Participatory democracy has in recent years become a standard part of local public action. Local councillors consider it is essential to involve citizens in decisions regularly – and not just at election time

- Essays / participation, local councillors, local democracy, abstention, participatory democracy

Do local politicians represent the people? A sociological portrait

Michel Koebel & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-11-28T05:55:00Z

France's 500,000 local councillors are regularly presented as the most popular elected officials and those closest to the French public. However, access to the positions of municipal councillor and mayor are increasingly subject to sexual, generational, residential and, above all, social selectivity: more retirees, civil servants and executives, and fewer manual workers and self-employed people.
Municipal councillors are regularly presented as the most popular elected officials with the

- Debates / inequalities, local authorities, local councillors, local democracy, municipal, elections, discrimination, mayors

“Bidonvilles”: from colonial policy to the Algerian War

Françoise de Barros & translated by Oliver Waine — 2012-03-21T07:07:58Z

The term bidonville (literally a town built of oil drums) originated in North Africa in the 1930s and came into use in mainland France in the 1950s to designate neighbourhoods composed of temporary, makeshift housing, particularly housing that accommodated Algerians. Here, Françoise de Barros shows that the management of these bidonvilles by the public authorities was situated at the crossroads between a colonial legacy and constraints associated with the Algerian War.
---- Series: How the

- Essays / bidonville, Nanterre, colonisation, local councillors, Algerian War, shanty town

What future for periurban communities: clubbisation or differentiated social dynamics?

Violaine Girard & translated by Oliver Waine — 2011-11-16T09:12:22Z

In La ville émiettée, Éric Charmes describes the phenomenon of “clubbisation” in towns and villages in the outer suburbs, where there is a growing tendency to operate exclusivist policies, with the aim of effecting a social selection of inhabitants. Although Charmes's work raises many issues, it overlooks the diverse range of social and political dynamics that can be found in periurban areas.
The urbanisation of rural areas on the outskirts of cities – an ongoing process in France since the

- Reviews / governance, clubbisation, gated communities, periurban, local authorities, local councillors