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In recent years, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has become one of the most important actors in the field of refugee status determination (RSD). Faced with the resurgence of such a categorization function, the organization tries to harmonize the practices of its agents in its 70 offices involved in RSD activities. Despite these maneuvers of systemizing administrative procedures—organized from Geneva in cooperation with local offices, the RSD practices, as observed from the UNHCR-Cairo RSD structure, are characterized by their impossible standardization. On the one hand, the political, economic, and social contexts, in which they take place, and in which the policies of the host countries' governments play a significant role, force to amend the rules coming from Geneva in a direction politically consistent with local configurations. On the other hand, UNHCR's eligibility officers—theoretically engaged in a humanitarian mission but subject to actual administrative work—often use their discretionary power to make their RSD work more consistent with their particular commitment. Thus, after highlighting the issues specific to the ethnography of an administrative practice within a transnational bureaucracy, the articles analyzes the means used by the UNHCR to standardize its administrative procedures, with the goal of improving both the efficiency and speed of the asylum application process. Finally, these rationalization attempts come up against the discretionary power inherent in the “asylum window,” related to the global and local challenges that the UNHCR has to tackle simultaneously, and to the humanitarian engagement of its agents.

Keywords: sociologie de l'asile, sociologie des organisations internationales, HCR, détermination du statut de réfugié (DSR), Égypte, Soudan, politique publique internationale, refugee studies, international organization studies, UNHCR, refugee status determination (RSD), Egypt, Sudan, international public policy

Research on policy implementation and street-level bureaucracies often tackles the issue of the discretionary power at the individual level, starting with frontline workers' freedom of action in the field. Based on an ethnographic study of the administration responsible for processing asylum requests in Switzerland, this article analyzes the issue differently: on the basis of the social, institutional, and legal mediations used by the law to guide actors' behaviours. The analysis of the mediations between laws and practices (decisions on asylum demands) shows the importance of a collective normative power of the administration, insofar as the caseworkers and their supervisors develop “secondary implementation norms.” This article shows that there are legal and social concepts and processes that frame, steer, and constrain caseworkers' practices in implementing the law.

Keywords: asile, droit, street-level bureaucracy, médiations du droit, pouvoir discrétionnaire, asylum, law, street-level bureaucracy, mediation in law, discretionary power

This article examines participation of Asian artists in the global art system previously dominated by European and American creators and producers in order to assess whether the level of Western hegemony is declining. Among the 500 contemporary artists with the highest levels of auction sales, 49 % came from Asia in 2011-2012, compared to 8 % in 2005. A major factor in the selection of artists for biennials and art fairs is the nationality of members of the committees that select the artists. National affiliations of artists exhibiting at biennials and being sold at auctions and of galleries participating in art fairs reveal a considerable “home bias” : preference for artworks produced locally or regionally. As a result, the global art market is segmented into distinct regions, East and West, each with its major artists and major art centers.

Keywords: marché de l'art, ventes d'art, galeries d'art, biennales, foires artistiques, art market, art auctions, art galleries, biennials, art fairs, mercado de arte, subastas de arte, galerías de arte, bienales, ferias de arte

This article, which is based on two surveys seeks to offer a reflection on the relationship between social networking sites, Islam and the traditional public space. For several years, the latter has been confronted to the visibility of Islamic dogmas and religious practices. Thus, secularism and the place of religion within this space are questioned as shown by the latest controversies on the wearing of complete veiling, or burkini. On this horizon, certain Muslim citizens who claim to be the subject of discrimination in the offline, space because of their Muslim identity, mobilize the social networking sites to reconstruct editorial spaces of visibility and audibility, which contributes to the widening of borders of the traditional public space.

Keywords: pratiques religieuses multiplateforme, laïcité, espace public, islam en France, Réseaux socionumériques, multiplatform religious practices, secularism, public space, islam in France, Social networking sites

Keywords: TGV, mobilité, transport, développement, local

Keywords: tourisme, santé, planification, développement local, Yucatán

Researchs on environmental devices have shown the key place of negotiation in the elaboration of environmental rules. These negotiations bring together actors with different knowledge of natural environment and various relationships to time. This article aims at studying the articulation of these different relationships to time within negotiations. Founded on the notion of “regimes of historicity” developed by F. Hartog (2003), the analysis shows how knowledge relying on past experience or developing anticipations of dangers articulate in negotiations to construct a relationship to time as a frame of reference for the actors. This frame of reference which establishes inequalities amongst the knowledge of the different actors is the product of processes of marginalization, exclusion and translation that deserve attention. The resulting relationship to natural environment is analyzed with reference to the place given to uncertainty in knowledge and in implementation of management schemes. The negotiations on which this article is based concern the creation of a protected area and the restoration of water quality in Brittany.

Keywords: négociation, rapport au temps, régime d'historicité, expérience, risques, gestion de l'environnement, développement durable, negotiation, relationship to time, regime of historicity, experience, risk, environmental management, sustainable development

The city of Montepllier is experiencing a positive migratory dynamics exerting a land pressure resulting in a susburban sprawl, and on an increase attendance of green spaces. For this study, we started with the point of view of developers of one of the two Agri(cultural)parks in Montpellier to think about the socialization process of a space as living environment. For this purpose, we conducted an investigation among professional users (practitioners) of this park. By presenting projects which combine urban and agricultural functions, generally observed in periurban areas, they are clearly involved in the sustainable development approach. Our investigation illustrate how it is possible for Agripark's users to play a role in the conservation of an ecosystem frequently visit by the inhabitants, while conceding a central position to farmers. The whole substantially participate to the socialization process. Considering proposed environmental values by practitioners, we also demonstrate the Agripark project attractiveness. Indeed the Agripark operates the links between nature and culture by playing on users' emotions, by the organic nature of implemented crops, and by giving a special attention to the biodiversity aspect of the project.

Keywords: agriculture biologique, écologie, milieu, périurbain, santé, socialisation, organic farming, ecology, environment, periurban, health, socialization