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French

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Decentralisation and Europe Decentralisation and Europe: Local Development Dependence Pathways

Abstract

Actes of the Colloquium “Forum des Territoire” organised by Pays et Quartiers d’Aquitaine, 26-27 January 2006. “Horizons Aquitaine” National audience collection has been going through a turbulent period of social tensions in response to reforms, particularly those proposing “liberal” transformations from the local and European levels. The local development community is not left to judge severely these developments, which give decentralisation and the European Union too strong responsibilities in terms of political regulation. At first sight, the position may seem paradoxical when it comes to the sociology of professionals and activists involved in urban social development and rural development. In these two worlds there is a rather proactive and reformist arena, advocating as a shared idea the principle of openness to new ways of linking public action and private initiatives, autonomy and universal values, local and global. In an attempt to shed light on this paradox, it is doubtless necessary to revisit the values that shape and guide ways of thinking and doing professionals in local development. The Anglosaxon concept of addictive path may be useful here. It was originally proposed by economists to try to explain why firms were struggling not to adopt the right solutions in certain contexts that were favourable to economic development. Researchers then showed that the stability of these companies came from the refusal of their members to return to zero when there were turbulence, as if each professional community preferred first and foremost to be in line with the patterns of thought closely linked to the history of its institutions. Extending to political sociology, this analysis grid makes it possible to observe how sectors of activity and administrations defend in the long term an old institutional design that sets (and trusts) the rules on economic and political performance. The addictive path characterises the common language, rites and norms that affect both the members of a community and its collective ambitions, securing in some way the social thickness of each institutional environment throughout its history and its main founding events. In order to decode the tribe of local development agents and to place their place in public policy tournaments, the concept of path dependence is useful because it clarifies two enigmas that deserve special attention: the exemplarity ever given to good local development practices initiated by the European Union, and the discretion of development agents to write the new pages of decentralisation. It is true that the concepts of social thickness, long time, common language, tribe and tournaments away from local development professionals, these criteria of professionalism based on technical skills and expert knowledge. But they have the advantage of highlighting the symbolic foundations of political action, establishing a close correlation between the capacity of a community to innovate and the stigma of its collective memory. Europe and local authorities are interesting catalysts for the blockages and challenges faced by local developers, and beyond French society as a whole to renew its major narratives on the public interest.

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