Physics Problems Force Or Trailer On A Car

A sociologist at


A stimulating essay on the meaning and status of one of our most misunderstood institutions.

Schnapper's book on his experience to the Council Constitution contains several books in one.

1) It is primarily a story (rare) life and the scenes of a little known institution eventually.


2) It also indirectly reflects on the sociological work of the researcher and the report to its purpose. Sociologists are trying in various ways to observe inside a specific environment, this time the sociologist has not only been an observer but actually named as one of nine elders, while the When sociologist and counselor.


3) last but not least is an analysis of the functioning and nature of this institution bizaroïde what the Constitutional Council. At this level Schnapper applies three major frameworks of analysis, from beginning to end.

a) The history of the Constitutional Council is primarily the story of his slow and gradual legitimization . Wanted by General de Gaulle as a supervisory body of parliamentary activity deemed precarious and dangerous in his eyes, the Council falls behind against the French democratic tradition. Secondary to protocol, fragile and directly submitted to the will of the General (who did not intend that he be the lesson on a constitution that he himself had written and did not hesitate to remind the mode I know what I put ! "), the Council has finally won its independence and establish itself as an indispensable element of political and legal French.

b) Life Council is also one of its members, networks they frequent, the services they render to them and others, past friendships. The meeting brings together former enemies, new features, create new relationships. The story of the relationship between political advisors from the Seraglio and those appointed after a career in the judiciary is very interesting. The most fascinating is that the ruling in law to make their way into this little theater of nominations, the balance of powers and influences, the diverse skills of its members. It does indeed, thanks in particular to the painstaking work of the Secretary General and the Legal Service, which are like the backbone of the institution.

c) Finally, and perhaps most interesting that the whole book, Dominique Schnapper points out with great clarity the deep hybrid status of the Constitutional Council, at the crossroads of political institutions (Parliament and Presidency) and institutions Legal (Conseil d'Etat, Cour de Cassation). Councillors are appointed by the Presidents of the Republic National Assembly and Senate are not judges and the Board is not a "court" unlike its foreign counterparts. But at the same time the Council is little more than a "club" and he actually participates in the development of law. Institution

mid-mid-legal policy, the Council had, for a sociologist, a dream job, exactly located at the intersection of two major creative utopia of democracy, utopia and representation (legitimacy comes from universal suffrage of the sovereign people, who can change laws) Utopia and the Law (security and continuity of the law are a protection against arbitrary passions of the moment, and sometimes the best recourse of the people against himself). Although any democratic government derives its legitimacy from universal suffrage (" if we listened to the lawyers, we would never do anything " / "9 wise can not contradict the general will of the people " like to say advisers " policies "), institutions can not rely solely on" moods "of the people, under pain of falling into another form of despotism. The Constitutional Council is the meeting place of these conflicting tensions. The conclusion of the book alone is a little gem that deserves to appear almost as a separate article. After the 452 pages devoted to it by Dominique Schnapper, the austere and modest palace in the Rue de Montpensier become almost endearing. We did not ask for much.

Dominique Schnapper, a sociologist at constitutional council, nrf Gallimard Tests, Paris, 2010

Santa Claus Shower Curtains

Gerard Noiriel constitutional council, the massacre of Italians

The book published by Fayard returns to the massacre of Italian workmen in the salt marshes of Aigues-Mortes , August 17, 1893, in the manner of books published in the beautiful collection The days that have made the France Gallimard.

parts of the file first: the threshing season, hundreds of workers throughout the region, the Ardèche and Italy converge on the salt marshes of Aigues Mortes, controlled by the powerful CSM is competition between workers to secure a labor cheap. Among them hike, vagrants considered off-the-law because they can not justify an ongoing activity, come to work in the marshes to survive and escape the police authorities. Italian immigrants also come to the season and live the rest of the year pastures. With his usual precision, Noiriel delivers the day's events in perspective, including the incorporation of the rich and powerful CSM single employer in the region, owns most of the territories concerned and even wine producer since the discovery of the beneficial effects of salt to protect vines from phylloxera.

Here are the facts: the massacre by a brawl. The work is hard work in harsh conditions, it requires the cooperation of all in pace. Especially since the workers spend part of the year on the profit they derive from their seasonal wetlands. But Italian workers are more efficient and prepared to work sum that vagrants that slow group. The workers are paid on performance, the Italians are beginning to complain of hike, a brawl ensues (a Piedmontese plunges his shirt full of salt in a bowl of water) leading to the massacre.

The crucial element of the story is that the factor National quickly established itself as a key explanatory element: we are dealing with a struggle between the French and the Italians (and not a struggle between vagrants and regular workers, or the result of social conditions disastrous under the authority of the CSM). National Solidarity will cover first and then launder in the silence of the willing public. The author shows that several factors converge precisely at the time to do the reading grid "national" grid reading priority. The Third Republic has done its utmost to strengthen the feeling of national solidarity after the defeat of 70, and since then the presence of the state has steadily grown through a series of institutions, homogenization language, school, army, etc.. The salt marshes of Aigues Mortes long isolated from the mainland were connected by train. Especially - among the most interesting portion of the book - the mass media invented the miscellaneous to seduce its audience with a proven dramatization of the events, where the national community where the French are sometimes presented as innocent victims or valiant hero of tragic or spectacular. Journalistic treatment of the massacre of Aigues Mortes not escape this rule. All combine to make this fight between seasonal workers struggle between nationalities, which leads logically to the innocence of the French tried by the courts and public opinion national public.

Noiriel Gerard said the outbreak at that time of rhetoric about "foreign thieves of French bread" that persists even today. The author denounces especially in terms scarcely veiled promotion of the "pride of ownership" and alerts us to the potential dangers of this "pride of being French." This pride is probably something normal when it is up to society's most favored, because it registers as a source of recognition and appreciation of oneself among other others (diploma, wealth, medals, relationships , etc.). However national pride becomes dangerous when it is all that remains for those who are most needy. When national pride is the last bastion of dignity, it causes tensions, chauvinism and rejection of others. The massacre of Italians attests. "Humiliated by the Piedmont because of their poor physical performance, have hiked the voulur establish their dignity violated by mobilizing the only" quality "that the Republican power according them again: the quality of French" (p 112) This quality their has mainly contributed in specific historical conditions, to build solidarity with people who ignore them in normal times and all prepared to the innocent as part of the same collective 'we'.

This community solidarity is evolving, changing with the court of history. It is not spontaneous, it is also sociologically and historically determined. Comparing with other events (The Murder at Hautefaye village of cannibals in 1970, the massacre in 1962 Charonne Subway, etc.), Noiriel shows that it is sometimes other solidarity prevail, based on a sense of class, ethnicity, according to the interests and the climate of the moment. The construction of "us" is not obvious is the merit of such work to show it.

Gerard Noiriel, The massacre of the Italians, Aigues-Mortes, 17 August 1893, Fayard, Paris, 2010.