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Owing to the rise of environmental concerns and the regionalization of the railway, regional “governments” are gradually more involved in transport policy-making. This paper is based on the results of a comparative and interdisciplinary research aiming at analyzing how the Regions are acting when confronted with these issues. It results clearly that the Regions seriously pay attention to the “collective transport of persons of regional interest” and that they found their political and territorial legitimacy on this competency. That legitimization is mainly shaped through three categories of conflicts : financing of transport investments, financing and definition of railway services, contribution to the local political system.

ABSTRACTIn both French and English-language literatures the last decade has been one of debate about the sociological and philosophical grounding of notions such as community, the common good, sense of sharing, social relations, social cohesion and citizenship. The article presents several of the arguments raised, and reminds us that such discussions are never politically neutral. While the terms of debate may vary in different national settings, they contribute to governments' legitimisation of new social policies which off-load responsibility for certain "social" problems to the private commercial sector and to organisations of civil society.

The objective of this paper is to show that it is possible to come back to a way to innovate that combines harmoniously the idea of progress with the realisation of a living together based on solidarity, cultural co-existence and environmentalism. To get there, we must raise our level of knowledge and understanding of what it means and what it implies to innovate. It is up to the research world to reveal the mecanisms that make an innovation able to bring more problems that it offers to solve, beyond the novelty and the answers it proposes.

Our study of two community gardens in Bordeaux and Quebec City, both established at the initiative of local residents, shows the capacity of these latter to address complex urban issues, while also revealing the tension between two visions of urban planning, one functional and economic, the other transversal and response-driven. In our comparative approach, an analysis of the actions taken and of the negotiation process shows that when the people involved chose to engage in a process of public debate, they were able to successfully achieve their collective social goal, whereas criticism of a more “aesthetic” nature remained marginal to the public decision-making process. Even so, both situations illustrate urban dwellers' capacity to think differently about urban planning, as well as the importance of their becoming organized if they are to reclaim “the keys to the city”.

Keywords: Aménagement, jardin, action culturelle, concertation, négociation, Urban planning, gardens, cultural action, community collaboration, negotiation, Planeamiento, jardín, acción cultural, concertación, negociación

France is the European country with the largest number of employee shareholders. Literature about employee share ownership (ESO) is mostly interested in the antecedents or implications for attitudes and behaviours as well as for corporate performance. Only few studies deal with the effects of ESO on corporate governance. Nevertheless such relations exist. This article aims to identify the implications of ESO on information disclosure to employees, and on their participation in strategic decision-making, using propensity score matching methods, based on data of the French nationally representative survey, REPONSE, including listed and unlisted companies.

Keywords: actionnariat salarié, gouvernance, diffusion d'information, scores de propension, employee share ownership, corporate governance, information disclosure, propensity score matching, accionariado asalariado, gobernanza empresarial, difusión de información, emparejamiento por puntajes de propensión

Keywords: restructuration financière, relations collectives de travail, plan social et incertitude

In France, do locally elected officials integrate local economic development as a politically instituted gesture? Such was the case during the Middle Ages when the dynamic of the communal movement had developed essentially on the basis of defending sectoral interests. But the Revolution of 1789, in marking the advent of the nation state, also signified the exclusion of the communal economy. Local institutions had, from then, centred their mediation on regional socio-cultural antagonisms and national political cleavages. After 1945, this equilibrium progressively crumbled. In the first place, elected officials suppressed at the local level any national desires for regional economic development, in favor of a conservative status quo. But today, under the effect of crisis conditions and the resurgence of local government, the "Mayor managers" are politically rehabilitating local development. To be legitimate, they combine territorial representation and sectoral mediation more openly.

We propose to examine the ways in which teaching professionals are involved in educational reform processes. To do so, we base our theoretical reflection on empirical studies of reforms implemented in France, Switzerland and Quebec. By questioning the role and place of professionals in public educational action, our reflection leads to a «concertation deficit» with regard to the world of education in general, inducing a risk for the legitimacy of the governance of educational systems and for the political decisions made about them. This heuristic basis is then used to analyze how the new Bill 23 was developed in Quebec, and the role played by professional actors.

Keywords: Réformes scolaires, enseignants, action publique, gouvernance, concertation, Educational reform, teachers, public action, governance, consultation