Research News

• In CNRS le Journal (20/01/2023) : Droite radicale : les femmes s’y mettent aussi (surtout en France)  ("Radical Right: Women Are Getting Involved Too (Especially in France)")

• In the "Genre, etc." podcast (10/01/2023) : Les femmes et le vote en faveur de l’extrême droite (19 min). Read the transcription (PDF, 125 ko).

"Comprendre à quel moment la représentation politique se grippe" - with Isabelle Guinaudeau

A widely held opinion is that many electoral promises "only engage those who listen to them." With the project "Unequal mandate responsiveness?" (UNEQUALMAND), Isabelle Guinaudeau (CNRS research associate at CEE), Theres Matthieß (University of Trier), and Elisa Deiss-Helbig (University of Stuttgart) aim to study, in Germany and France, the groups to whom electoral promises are addressed and how these groups react to their formulation and (non-)fulfillment.

Read the interview with the three researchers leading the project (published in December 2022, this article is an adaptation of a text originally published in German by the University of Trier in its magazine KonzenTRiert; interview conducted by Peter Kuntz).

"Gaining a Better Understanding of 'What Cities Do to Migrants, and What Migrants Do to Cities'" - with Marcela Alonso Ferreira and Soazig Dollet "

"Cities and Migrations: Cross-Perspectives on Interdependencies" is the title of the doctoral study day organized by Marcela Alonso Ferreira, Jean-Baptiste Chambon, Soazig Dollet, and Viviane Spitzhofer, doctoral candidates at CEE and all members of the research axis "Cities, Borders, and (Im)mobilities." This hybrid event, conducted in French and English, will bring together doctoral students from Sciences Po (CRIS, CERI, Médialab), as well as other French institutions, Austria, Greece, Italy, and Switzerland.

Read an interview with two of the organizers (interview conducted by Véronique Etienne, December 2022).

"Ecology of War: A New Paradigm for Europe?" - with Pierre Charbonnier

"The Ecology of War: A New Paradigm for Europe?" is the title of the roundtable organized by the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics on November 23, 2022, at Sciences Po, focusing on the second issue of the GREEN journal. Pierre Charbonnier, philosopher and CNRS research associate who directed this issue, presents the concept of "ecology of war." 

"Society Facing Terrorism: What Role for Trials?" - with Sandrine Lefranc

What are society's reactions to terrorism? What does the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks tell us? What responses can our democracy provide? A collective of researchers from diverse disciplines aimed to answer these questions by studying the proceedings of the trial of the November 13, 2015 attacks, known as the V13 trial. They contextualized their observations from the ten months of the trial with their knowledge of similar trials and broader issues such as the links between justice and wars, radicalism, and political violence. Their observations are the subject of two study days on November 10 and 17, 2022, organized by the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE) and the Center for International Studies (CERI).

Read the joint interview with Sandrine Lefranc, Nadia Marzouki, Antoine Mégie, and Sharon Weil (interview conducted by Véronique Etienne, November 2022).

"With all these trials of jihadist networks and the length of future historic trials... only researchers can attend every day!" - article by Sandrine Lefranc published in the newsletter of the Institute of Human and Social Sciences (Institut des sciences humaines et sociales du CNRS), March 2023.

"From Dictatorships to Terrorism: How to End the Violence?" - with Sandrine Lefranc

South Africa, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, post-communist Eastern Europe, post-dictatorship Latin America... Since the 1990s, many countries have had to negotiate transitions from violent internal conflicts to often democratic peace. In her latest book, Comment sortir de la violence? Enjeux et limites de la justice transitionnelle (CNRS Éditions, April 2022), Sandrine Lefranc, CNRS research director in sociology and political science, investigates the initiatives of "transitional justice" by questioning their assumptions, implementation, and results.

Read the interview published in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (November 2022, interview conducted by Véronique Etienne and Sébastien Wony).

Les femmes, les jeunes et les enfants d'abord (Women, Youth, and Children First) - with Bruno Palier

In Les femmes, les jeunes et les enfants d'abord; Investissement social et économie de la qualité (PUF, 2022), Clément Carbonnier and Bruno Palier propose a new social contract based on inclusive social investment policies and a generalized improvement in the quality of the productive system. It would guarantee the quality of life and employment for all in the name of greater social justice. Bruno Palier, CNRS research director in political science, sheds light on current social challenges, evaluations of past reforms, and provides recommendations regarding social investment for an economy of quality in these interviews. 

Propos recueillis par Myriam Sefraoui.
Accéder à la transcription de la vidéo (PDF, 140 ko)
 

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.
Accéder à la transcription de l'interview audio (PDF, 138 ko)

"Fighting Corruption: Global Instruments, Local Practices" - with Sofia Wickberg

Sofia Wickberg, a young doctoral researcher at Sciences Po, was awarded the #StopCorruption association prize for her research on corruption policies. She discusses her thesis, conducted at the CEE, which focuses on the convergence and translation of corruption prevention policies, based on the example of parliamentary integrity in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Read the interview published in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (February 2022, interview conducted by Myriam Sefraoui and Hélène Naudet).

"The Environment and the Modernity of Political Ideas" - with Pierre Charbonnier

It is evident that major modern political theories are intimately connected to environmental issues. However, this dimension has been largely overlooked in their history. To fill this gap, Pierre Charbonnier, CNRS research associate in philosophy, embarked on presenting these links in his latest book, Abondance et liberté. Une histoire environnementale des idées politiques (September 2020, La Découverte). He shows how modern political ideas were—and still are—imbued with conceptions of the relationship to land and the environment, and how they are built around a pact between democracy and growth, a link that is now being questioned due to the climate crisis.

Read the interview in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (February 2022, interview conducted by Myriam Sefraoui).

What is governed and not governed in cities? - avec Marcela Alonso Fereira et Roberto Rodriguez

Marcela Alonso Ferreira is a PhD candidate in political science at the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE). Her research interests are urban governance and the politics of public policies in the city and more particularly in large metropolises.

Roberto Rodriguez recently defended his PhD thesis prepared at the CEE. His thesis project was about the “interdependence between public policy areas in large metropolises: a comparative case study of Mexico City and Paris”. At the time of this interview (January 2022), he was postdoctoral fellow at the CEE working on the links between housing and environmental policies.

They both present the research group "What is governed (and not governed) in cities?" (WHIG) in which they take part.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.
Accéder à la transcription de l'interview (en anglais) (PDF, 53 Ko)

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.

Accéder à la transcription de l'interview (en anglais) (PDF, 128 ko)

Pour en savoir plus sur le groupe WHIG, lire "Les défis des métropoles : ce qui est gouverné et ne l’est pas", dans Cogito, le magazine de la recherche de Sciences Po (octobre 2017)

Do elections (still) matter? - by Emiliano Grossman and Isabelle Guinaudeau

In their book Do elections (still) matter? Mandates, Institutions, and Policies in Western Europe (Oxford University Press, December 2021), political scientists Isabelle Guinaudeau (Research Fellow at CNRS) and Emiliano Grossman (Associate Professor at Sciences Po) have undertaken an ambitious study on democratic mandates in five Western European countries (Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, and the United Kingdom) through the prism of agenda-setting in politics since the 1980s. The findings of this research contribute to a reexamination of theories on representation through mandates and call into question a significant portion of comparative political literature suggesting that majority systems are more responsive than consensus systems.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.
Access the video transcript (PDF, 193 KB)

Read on the same subject: Electoral Campaigns and Programs Do Have an Impact on Public Policies (CNRS Press Room, December 16, 2021)

Political Socialization: What's New? - by Florence Haegel

As a Professor at Sciences Po and former Director of CEE at the time of this interview, Florence Haegel is the author of the article "Political Socialization: Out of Purgatory?" published on February 9, 2021, in the European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie (Cambridge University Press). Reflecting on the crisis experienced by research on political socialization in the 1970s, she then focuses on the renewal of this field, starting with the study of children's political socialization. Florence Haegel further explores how lifelong political socialization is currently studied, highlighting four research dynamics: the study of civic and political socialization of adolescents and young adults; generational renewal; the socializing effects of political mobilization; and the processes and agents of secondary political socialization of adults. Finally, the last part of the article questions what constitutes the political dimension in political socialization.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.

Access the video transcript (PDF, 143 KB)

The Origins of Public Financial Management - with Philippe Bezes

Philippe Bezes, CNRS Research Director in Political Science, and Florence Descamps, Associate Professor of Contemporary History at EPHE-PSL, present in this interview the third volume of their book Le mouvement RCB ou le rêve d’un gouvernement rationnel 1962-1978. L’invention de la gestion des finances publiques (IGPDE, 2021) focusing on the rationalization of budgetary choices (RCB), which they co-edited with Sébastien Kott, Professor at the University of Poitiers. Bringing together the perspectives of historians, sociologists, political scientists, and jurists, this book explores the various dimensions of RCB as the first major reform of the French administration under the Fifth Republic. It also represents the first attempt at a widespread introduction of management in public financial management. After tracing the genealogy of this reform, the book shows how RCB is positioned at the crossroads of two periods and two conceptions of central state governance through the study of reform dynamics classified under the label of rationalization of budgetary choices.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.
Access the video transcript (PDF, 168 KB)

What Links Exist Between Growth Strategies and Forms of Social Protection? - with Bruno Palier

This interview with Bruno Palier, CNRS Research Director, focuses on his book: "Growth and Welfare in Advanced Capitalist Economies. How have Growth Regimes evolved?" (Oxford University Press, January 2021), co-edited with Anke Hassel (Hertie School). Bruno Palier discusses the innovative nature of this research, which brings together two fields of study: the analysis of growth regimes and the study of the welfare state and social protection reforms.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.

French Society in the Face of Terror Attacks - with Florence Faucher

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.
Access the video transcription (PDF, 163 KB)

Boris Johnson: A Temporary Populist Fever? - by Florence Faucher

With his blonde hair, rapid rise linked to political polarization, and a tendency to disregard objective facts, Boris Johnson, also known as Boris or BoJo, has often been compared to Donald Trump, whom he fervently supported until October 2020. But do these similarities make Johnson a populist leader? Is he heading a populist movement? Is British democracy under threat? This article by Florence Faucher, published in the "Populism Today" dossier of Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (April 2021), provides some insights.

Ethnicity Policies and Democratic Resilience - by Jan Rovny

The democratization of Central and Eastern Europe was initially hailed as a historic success. A large portion of the European continent transitioned from authoritarian communist regimes to democracies that functioned, albeit imperfectly, based on competitive political systems allowing for power alternation. However, in the past decade, the fruits of democracy have started to turn sour. Several countries, notably Hungary and Poland, have elected leaders and parties explicitly seeking to limit pluralism, weaken independent media, and curtail the powers of the judiciary, establishing what Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called "illiberal democracy." Observing that democratic backsliding is more frequent in Central and Eastern European states where ethnic minorities have less weight, Jan Rovny, Associate Professor at Sciences Po, explains how the presence of mobilized minority groups can paradoxically serve as a bulwark against democratic backsliding. This article can be found in the "Populism Today" dossier of Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (April 2021).

Why Study Parliaments? - with Cyril Benoît and Olivier Rozenberg

Political scientists Cyril Benoît, CNRS researcher, and Olivier Rozenberg, Associate Professor at Sciences Po, present the book they co-edited titled "The Handbook of Parliamentary Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Legislatures" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020). This comprehensive manual takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of parliaments, providing an innovative overview of key aspects of legislatures, legislative institutions, and legislative politics.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.

How to Break Free from the Grip of Social Media - by Dominique Boullier

Dominique Boullier, Professor of Sociology at Sciences Po and member of CEE, allows us to reflect on this current issue with his latest publication, Comment sortir de l'emprise des réseaux sociaux (Le Passeur, 2020). Through his multidisciplinary approach, the author profoundly renews our understanding of these platforms and offers innovative solutions for using them without being dominated by them.

Interviewed by Myriam Sefraoui.

On the same subject, read Il est temps de réguler les réseaux sociaux. L'ère du réchauffement médiatique by Dominique Boullier, published in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (June 2021).

Elites and Politics: The Case of Obamacare - with William Genieys

Does the idea that elites are all-powerful and exert their influence on public policies based on their interests reflect reality? If so, how do they proceed? If not, how much influence do they really have, how do they operate, and what interests motivate them? William Genieys, a political scientist and sociologist, CNRS research director at the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics, has long been interested in these questions. After studying French and Spanish elites, he has more recently focused on the functioning of American elites. In his latest book, Gouverner à l'abri des regards. La réussite de l'Obamacare (Presses de Sciences Po, September 2020), he explores the role of American elites, particularly long-term insiders, in the landmark healthcare reform of Barack Obama's presidency: the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

An interview to read in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (February 2021, interviewed by Linda Amrani).

Regulating the Poverty of Roma Migrants: The French, Italian, and Spanish Cases - with Tommaso Vitale

In general, the presence of precarious foreigners appears as a recurring problem for public authorities. More than the difficulties faced by migrants, it is the "vision of foreign poverty" that seems to be questioned. As a result, public actors often favor interventions that oscillate between integration under contract and rejection. While these policies are well-documented, their medium- and long-term effects remain unknown. However, these policies, combining actions of eviction (clearing of land, expulsion of individuals) with local actions of accommodation and integration, have significant consequences on the lives of those affected. Based on this observation, the research project MARGIN, in which Tommaso Vitale, Associate Professor of Sociology at Sciences Po, contributed, aimed to study these actions and identify their contribution to the integration processes by examining the case of Roma in French, Italian, and Spanish cities.

Read more in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (February 2021).

Governing the Paris Metropolitan Area? - with Patrick Le Galès

Patrick Le Galès, CNRS research director and dean of the Urban School at Sciences Po, presents the collective work he directed, Gouverner la métropole parisienne. État, conflits, institutions, réseaux (Presses de Sciences Po, 2020). Based on original research, this well-documented analysis provides a precise understanding of the political and institutional dynamics of an unfinished metropolization.

Interview by Myriam Sefraoui.

Development Banks in the Context of the European Union - with Matthias Thiemann

Interview by Myriam Sefraoui.

Réformer les retraites (Retirement Reforms) - by Bruno Palier

Grounded in the current debates in France and Europe, Bruno Palier's book Réformer les retraites (Presses de Sciences Po, June 2021) allows us to grasp the substance and scope of major pension system reforms in France since 1993, drawing on examples from Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Bruno Palier, CNRS Research Director in Political Science, offers a comparative analysis of the choices of models and their implementation by European governments. The choice of a model is inherently political and involves significant trade-offs in intergenerational redistribution, between men and women, and among social groups.

Interview by Myriam Sefraoui.
Access the transcription of the interview (PDF, 163 Ko)

Why Join a Political Party Today? - by Laura Morales

Political parties are undoubtedly going through a crisis, at least in terms of their image and the support they receive from citizens. In established democracies, the number of party members has largely declined, and we can speak of a crisis of partisan activism: the party activist has become a rare breed. However, it would be premature to declare the bankruptcy of political parties as a form of political organization. With the "Great Recession" of 2008, new political parties have sprung up like mushrooms all over Europe: La République en Marche and La France Insoumise in France, the Five Star Movement in Italy, AfD in Germany, or Podemos in Spain, to name just a few examples. Moreover, so-called "traditional" parties have remained organizations that know how to adapt to circumstances and seek to innovate in order to attract the support and engagement of citizens.

An article by Laura Morales, Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po, to be read in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (June 2020).

Access to Social Housing: Discrimination at Every Level - by Marine Bourgeois

In her doctoral thesis prepared under the supervision of Patrick Le Galès at CEE, Marine Bourgeois sheds light on the production of discrimination in access to social housing. Through direct observations, interviews, documentary analysis, and statistical analysis, she exposes how future tenants of social housing are selected and sorted. She emphasizes three main explanations to account for the recurrence of discriminatory practices: the characteristics of the local context, institutional constraints, and the professional culture of field agents. Her thesis work was awarded the Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize by the French Association of Political Science and the Dalloz Thesis Prize in Political Science.

Governing the Digital City - with Antoine Courmont and Patrick Le Galès

Big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, smart city, platforms, algorithms, digital labor: technological innovation seems rapid and elusive. It is therefore important to question what the digital realm truly does to our societies, particularly to our cities. In the book Gouverner la ville numérique (PUF, 2019), edited by Antoine Courmont, postdoctoral researcher, and Patrick Le Galès, CNRS research director, big data is contextualized within the transformations of cities and the governance of urban management, based on empirical investigations of algorithms, platforms, and experiments.

An article to be read in Cogito, the research magazine of Sciences Po (February 2020).

Other interviews

• Dominique Boullier, La souveraineté des États menacée par les plateformes, septembre 2021, Sciences Po, Chaire Digital, gouvernance et souveraineté
• Cornelia Woll, Le droit américain imposé au monde entier ?, mai 2021, Sciences Po, vidéo (série Focus)
• Bruno Palier, CIVICA Scholars Discuss: How have Growth Regimes Evolved?, avril 2021, CIVICA
• Charlotte Halpern, Lancement de l'axe politiques environnementales du LIEPP, décembre 2020, LIEPP
• Bruno Palier, La pauvreté commence à l'enfance, juin 2020, Sciences Po, vidéo (série Focus)
• Cyril Benoît, OXPO, une mobilité internationale vue du CEE, mars 2020 (PDF, 21 Ko)
• Florence Haegel et Renaud Dehousse, 2009-2019 : le CEE fête ses 10 ans, juin 2019, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Patrick Le Galès, Patrick Le Galès, Médaille d’argent du CNRS 2018, janvier 2019, CNRS, vidéo
• Virginie Guiraudon, Repenser les politiques migratoires : pour un « GIEC » des migrations et de l’asile, décembre 2018, Sciences Po
• Olivier Rozenberg, Le Parlement sous tous ses angles, décembre 2018, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Olivier Rozenberg, Faire du Parlement le coeur battant de la démocratie, juillet 2018, Sciences Po
• Bruno Palier, Les politiques de notre gouvernement sont-elles efficaces ?, juin 2018, Sciences Po
• Virginie Guiraudon, the European Consortium for Political Research 2018 Conference, juin 2018, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Emiliano Grossman & Nicolas Sauger, Pourquoi détestons-nous autant nos politiques ?, février 2017, Sciences Po
• Virginie Guiraudon, Quel avenir pour l'Europe ?, juin 2018, CNRS le Journal, interview
• Florence Haegel, ECPR 2018 Conference on the European Union, juin 2018, interview (en anglais)
• Bruno Cousin : Ce que les riches pensent des pauvres / What do the rich think of the poor?, 2018, Sciences Po, Cogito, interview
• Colin Hay : Former la prochaine génération de politologues / Train the next generation of political scientists, 2018, Sciences Po, Ecole de la Recherche, interview
• Colin Hay: "The world economy is more dangerous and less stable now than in 2008", février 2018, Sciences Po, interview (en anglais)
• Clément Boisseuil : Quartiers fragiles, décembre 2017, Sciences Po, interview
• Tom Chevalier : La jeunesse en France “une citoyenneté refusée”, octobre 2017, Sciences Po, Cogito, vidéo
• Tom Chevalier : De Sciences Po à Harvard, août 2017, Sciences Po, interview
• Thomas Aguilera : L'effet néfaste des expulsions sur les populations, février 2017, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Tom Chevalier : Émanciper les jeunes : oui, mais comment ?, avril 2016, Sciences Po, interview
• Nonna Mayer & Caterina Froio : L'Europe est-elle menacée par les partis d'extrême droite ? / Are far-right parties a threat to the European union?, mars 2017, Sciences Po, interview croisée
• Philippe Bezès : L’enseignement est le complément naturel, indispensable même, de la recherche / Teaching is the essential complement to research, novembre 2016, Sciences Po, interview
• Thomas Aguilera : "Alternative Ways of Living in the City are Needed to Bring Cities to Life", novembre 2016, Sciences Po, interview (en anglais)
• Francesca Artioli: "The power of Cities", septembre 2015, Sciences Po, interview (en anglais)
• Patrick Le Gales, élu à la British Academy, août 2011, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Nonna Mayer & Olivier Dabène : The Political Sciences Department, juillet 2011, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Florence Haegel : Le département de science politique, juillet 2011, Sciences Po, vidéo
• Renaud Dehousse : Herman Van Rompuy vu par Renaud Dehousse, septembre 2010, Sciences Po, vidéo