Thesis ( M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2002. / The Department of Health And Welfare

Alors que la littérature académique sur les politiques de l’emploi se concentre sur les variables nationales du changement, cette recherche s’intéresse à la perméabilité des frontières nationales de l’action publique dans un contexte européanisé. En adoptant une approche interactionniste de l’européanisation, elle explique d’abord comment les institutions européennes ont défini un modèle, celui de la flexicurité, qui articule deux dimensions que les experts et les acteurs politiques ont longtemps considérées comme incompatibles : la flexibilité des marchés du travail et la sécurité des travailleurs. La recherche se penche ensuite sur la comparaison de deux cas nationaux, dont les systèmes de protection sociale étaient traditionnellement éloignés des cadres de la flexicurité, mais qui ont pourtant mis en œuvre des réformes qui vont dans le sens prescrit par les institutions européennes : la France et le Portugal. In fine, la thèse montre que les frontières nationales sont remises en cause mais n’ont pas disparu. Même s’il devient difficile d’agir de manière indépendante, les acteurs politiques nationaux mettent en œuvre des stratégies destinées à préserver leur autonomie. / The literature on employment policies has mainly focused on national variables in order to explain change. This research studies the degree of openness of national boundaries in a European context. By adopting an interactionist approach of Europeanization, it first explains how European institutions have defined a model of flexicurity that combines flexibility on the labor markets and security for the workers, whereas these two characteristics have long been considered incompatible. Then the research compares the recent evolution of two social protection systems that did not fit with the flexicurity framework and have nevertheless implemented employment policy reforms in line with European requirements. To explain the link between European demands and national reforms, this research underlines two mechanisms. First, it shows that national spheres are embedded in a broader context that strengthens the competition between welfare models but has a different impact on national spheres (the “national delay issue” in Portugal and the “specificities of the French model” in France). Then, in both cases, the political and administrative actors have tried to depoliticize policy reforms by mobilizing academic expertise. The different modalities of expert interventions crucially influence trade unions’ capacities to participate in the framing of national reforms. All in all, the thesis shows that national boundaries are challenged but have not disappeared. Even though it becomes difficult for them to act independently, national political leaders tend to develop strategies to preserve their autonomy.

This thesis seeks to explore how key decision-makers within the Portuguese civil service formulate decisions regarding policies orientated at children with disabilities. It breaks the issue down by focusing on three main perspectives - the decisionmaker, the policy framework and children with disabilities. The decision-maker was analysed in the context her/his professional identity. By combining social identity theory (self-categorisation) and identity theory (role-identification) and interview data, this thesis found that the basis for decision-making was the way in which the term "children with disabilities" was identified and conceptualised by the decisionmaker, as well as the associated approaches, rules and guidelines at both the national and international level. It found a variable balance of influences between the concepts of parenting and families, the norms of the Portuguese welfare system and the emergent international thinking regarding children with disabilities. Through the use of a multi-method approach which incorporated interviews, vignettes and documentary analysis this thesis captured the approaches of each decision-maker. This thesis found that children with disabilities were predominantly viewed as dependants. The familialist structure of the Portuguese welfare state introduces the notion of a "disabled family", whereby the family carries the responsibility of addressing the challenges associated with children's disability and state support is directed at the family. In addition, this thesis found that "normalisation" was the predominant approach to disability, regardless of intended approach of each decision-maker. This study concluded that a combination of rehabilitative and integrative policy impulses in a context of limited and incomplete information and guidelines from international organisations have influenced this approach.

This thesis consists of four self-contained articles which focus on different aspects of citizens' demand for and governments' supply of social policy in Latin American democracies. The underlying questions that link the four papers are a) do social and economic grievances affect citizens' propensity to protest? and, b) do democratic governments in the region use social policy as an instrument to mitigate social discontent and violent crime? In the first two papers, I use public opinion data in order to examine the determinants of citizens' participation in protest with a special focus on dissatisfaction with the quality of public services, demands for inequality-reduction policies and economic deprivation. The results show that among other factors, protest participation is motivated by citizens' discontent over the quality of basic social services, support for redistributive policies, and relative economic deprivation. The third and fourth papers analyze the "supply side" of social spending in the region focusing on collective protest and violent crime, respectively. The third article argues that under democracy, organized labor is in a better position relative to other groups in society to obtain social policy concessions as a consequence of their collective action efforts. The results show that whereas social security spending increases as a consequence of labor militancy, cutbacks in human capital spending are less likely as peaceful large-scale demonstrations increase. The fourth paper argues that political leaders use education spending as an instrument to mitigate violent crime. It also argues that the effect of violent crime on education spending is larger when leftist governments are in power. The empirical analysis provides support for these arguments.

Cette thèse porte sur la relation qu'un président, bénévole et un directeur, salarié, d'une MJC, mais aussi d'autres associations d'éducation populaire, peuvent entretenir dans le cadre de la gouvernance qu'ils exercent ensemble. Des entretiens avec 62 présidents et directeurs mais aussi d'autres salariés de fédérations de MJC ainsi que trois historiens ou sociologues ont permis de confirmer certains postulats théoriques quant à la complexité de la relation entre un président et un directeur d'association, parfois conflictuelle, mais aussi de révéler la diversité de formes que cette relation peut revêtir, tout comme la diversité des acteurs, quant à leur rapport au pouvoir mais aussi à leur militantisme. Cette thèse a en outre mis en avant un point commun à l'ensemble de ces acteurs associatifs : un sentiment d'appartenance à un réseau et plus largement à un courant de pensée, l'éducation populaire. / This thesis deals with the relationship that a volunteer president and a managing director, employee, of a MJC, but also other popular education non-profit organizations, can maintain within the governance they exercice together. Interviews with 62 presidents and managing directors, but also other employees of MJC and three historians or sociologists confirmed some of the basic premises about the complexity of the relationship between a president and a managing director of non-profit organization, sometimes conflicting, but showed also the variety of forms this relationship can take on, as the diversity of the actors, about their relation to authority but also to their militancy. Moreover, this thesis has highlighted a common point to the totality of these associative actors : a sense of belonging to a network and more widely to a line of thought, the popular education.

Social protection should ideally create a framework of 'welfare rights' for the vulnerable individuals and households. The state, through a set of policies of promotive and protective measures, sets out to achieve this. However, gaining these welfare rights in a decentralised democratic framework could be a function of the bargaining power that each individual, household and social group may possess. Therefore the micro-level interactions involving claimant, bureaucrat and local elites constitute the key policy process. Study of the process itself can reveal why some households gain formal social protection and other fail. This study argues that the local practices and informal rules underlying these public policy processes are purposively guided by the private interests of the local elites. At the heart of this dissertation is a comparative case-study of two villages in the Indian state of Maharashtra, based on eight months ethnographic fieldwork. Bottomup evaluation of two social protection programmes, public works (promotive) and social assistance (protective) programmes shows that 60 per cent of eligible persons are excluded from welfare rights. The mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion in these programmes are studied. The study reveals that both eligibility and entitlement to 'welfare rights' are contested within the power structure of the local community. The social identity of the claimant, and the ability to build a relationship with the local leaders or labour market managers act as key routes to access welfare rights. The precedence of informal rules at the stage of implementation of social protection programmes reproduced the existing social and economic power structures. As a result, the welfare rights of individuals and households are affected by the competing forces in the non-state sectors. These non-state actors, through their network, were able to weaken the administration and fair allocation of welfare benefits. Through this analysis the thesis contributes to the understanding of the local state, and decision-making practices over welfare rights in a decentralised context.

Cette thèse de sociologie vise à étudier les dynamiques des relations entre les filles et les garçons – descendants d'immigrés – résidant au sein de deux quartiers populaires, français et allemand, dans lesquels des politiques publiques spécifiques sont mises en place : la politique de la ville en France, la Soziale Stadt en Allemagne. L'originalité de ce travail vient du fait que les relations entre les sexes sont analysées sous l'angle de la tension entre solidarité et concurrence. L'analyse, développée à partir d'entretiens biographiques et d'une ethnographie multisituée, souligne les effets des stratégies éducatives des parents, des expériences scolaires et professionnelles des enfants, ainsi que de leur engagement dans des « pôles normatifs » plus ou moins égalitaires au sein de leur quartier sur les dynamiques de solidarité et de concurrence entre les sexes. La solidarité entre les sexes apparaît comme une ressource mobilisable, pour les filles et pour les garçons, dans le cadre du passage à l'âge adulte. Elle permet notamment de faire face à différentes formes de domination. La solidarité ne va cependant pas de soi. Elle apparaît et disparaît, doit être négociée et re-négociée, change de forme en fonction des contextes et des interactions. Il s'agit de ce que j'appelle une solidarité en tension. / This PhD thesis aims at studying the dynamics of the relationships between boys and girls – descendants of migrants – living in two deprived neighborhoods, in France and Germany, in which specific public policies have been implemented: the “politique de la ville” in France, and the “Soziale Stadt” in Germany. The originality of this research resides in the fact that gender relations are analyzed considering a tension between solidarity and competition. The analysis, based on life stories and on a multi-sited ethnography, underlines the effects of the educational strategies of the parents, of the school and work experiences of the children, as well as of their involvement in more or less gender egalitarian “normative poles” in their neighborhood, on the dynamics of solidarity and competition. Solidarity between boys and girls seems to be a useful resource during the transition into adulthood. It is especially used in order fight different kinds of domination. Solidarity is not fixed, but dynamic. It appears and disappears, must be negociated and re-negociated, changes its form depending of the contexts and interactions. It is what I call a solidarité en tension.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le débat portant sur la « ghettoïsation » des quartiers populaires français. Pour avancer dans ce débat, il faut prendre en compte l’ensemble des expériences quotidiennes de leurs habitants. Pour ce faire, les expériences urbaines des lycéens de Vaulx-en-Velin, vécues aussi bien dans les espaces publics centraux qu’au sein du microcosme social que constitue le lycée, sont interrogées et mises en regard de leurs représentations sociales. Ces adolescents qui, sans être marginalisés, sont stigmatisés par la sphère médiatique, catégorisent le monde social selon différents processus dichotomiques. L’approche intersectionnelle est mobilisée afin d’analyser l’entremêlement des dimensions spatiales, sociales, ethno-raciales et morales qui sous-tendent leurs représentations. La réflexion s’appuie sur des enquêtes qualitatives effectuées auprès d’adolescents des lycées Robert Doisneau à Vaulx-en-Velin et Juliette-Récamier à Lyon. Les lycéens élargissent progressivement leurs pratiques selon un continuum allant de leur quartier de résidence au centre-ville de Lyon. La recherche de l’autonomie, de l’anonymat et de diversité sociale guide la découverte (souvent accompagné de pairs) des différents espaces urbains fréquentés. Plus particulièrement, le centre-ville de Lyon, caractérisé par un régime de sociabilité public permet aux adolescents de Vaulx-en-Velin de faire l’expérience de l’indifférence. L’expérience de la norme d’égalité propre à ce type d’espaces publics reste cependant soumise à l’adoption d’un certain nombre de codes sociaux de la société dominante. / This thesis positions itself within the debate on the "ghettoization" of French working-class neighbourhoods. To move forward in this debate, it is necessary to take into account all the daily urban experiences of their inhabitants. With this in mind, urban experiences of Vaulx-en-Velin high school students, both in the central public spaces and in the social microcosm that constitutes the high school, are questioned and put in comparison with their social representations. These adolescents who, without being marginalized, are stigmatized by the media sphere, categorize the social world according to different dichotomous processes. An intersectional approach is mobilized to analyze the intertwining of spatial, social, ethno-racial and moral dimensions that underlie their representations. The fieldwork is based on qualitative surveys conducted among adolescents in two high schools: Robert Doisneau in Vaulx-en-Velin and Juliette-Récamier in Lyon. High school students are expanding progressively their practices along a continuum ranging from their home neighbourhood to Lyon downtown. The search for autonomy, anonymity and social diversity guides their discovery (often accompanied by peers) of different urban spaces. More specifically, Lyon's city centre, where interactions are ruled by a kind of detached politeness, allows teenagers to experience indifference. However, beyond this, the feeling of being equal to others remains subject to the adoption of the social codes of the dominant society.

L’objectif principal de cette étude est d’analyser la configuration du pouvoir local dans quatre États mexicains : le Chiapas, le Veracruz, le Yucatan et le District Fédéral, en lien avec la reproduction de la pauvreté et des inégalités, qui persistent en dépit de la mise en œuvre de programmes sociaux destinés aux personnes âgées du pays. Ces quatre États mexicains montrent des similitudes et des différences dans la reproduction du pouvoir par le PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) et par les « grandes familles ». Cette reproduction est à mettre en relation avec le clientélisme politique, qui alimente également la reproduction de la pauvreté et des inégalités. L’étude comparative entre ces quatre États est réalisée dans un contexte de transition sociodémographique et de vieillissement de la population mexicaine. L’étude aborde également les questions de la discrimination du genre, des relations conflictuelles entre classes sociales et du racisme dans les rapports sociaux, en articulation avec la persistance du « colonialisme du pouvoir » mis en œuvre par différents groupes exogènes et endogènes. / The main objective of this study is to analyze the local power configuration in four Mexican states: Chiapas, Veracruz, Yucatan and the Federal District, with regard to reproduction of poverty and inequality that persist despite the implementation of social programs for the elderly in Mexico. These four Mexican states show similarities and differences in the reproduction of power by the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and by the "big families". This reproduction is related to political clientelism, which also supplies the reproduction of poverty and inequality. The comparative study between four states is carried out within a context of socio-demographic transition and ageing processes of Mexican population. The study also addresses issues of gender discrimination, conflicts between social classes and racism in social relations, in articulation with persistence of the "colonialism of power" implemented by various exogenous and endogenous groups.

Institution spécialisée du système des Nations Unies créée à la sortie de la Seconde guerre mondiale, l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) s'est vu confiée, par l'article premier de sa Constitution, le but « d'amener tous les peuples au niveau de santé le plus élevé possible ». Pour atteindre cet objectif, les États membres lui ont conféré vingt-deux fonctions dont une normative. Cette dernière lui permet, en théorie, d’adopter à la fois des instruments de santé non contraignants et d'autres contraignants. L'étendue du champ d'application de cette fonction permet à l'OMS d'élaborer des normes au contenu très divers et varié dès lors qu'elle agit dans le cadre de son objectif sanitaire. Parallèlement, en raison de difficultés internes, propres à son organisation régionalisée et à une concurrence externe accrue par la multiplication d'acteurs de santé mondiale, l'OMS est à un tournant de son histoire comme en atteste l'envergure de la réforme qui est toujours en cours depuis 2010. Dans ce contexte, il s'agit de comprendre et d'analyser l'influence du rôle normatif de l'OMS dans les systèmes de santé nationaux. D'abord, une évaluation de son autorité normative, qui apparaît affaiblie, est proposée afin de présenter des évolutions pour la renforcer et ainsi améliorer la protection de la santé mondiale au sein d'un droit international de la santé consolidé. Ensuite, l'étude approfondie de son activité normative est envisagée pour délimiter la conception de la norme de l'OMS par le prisme de son efficacité. L'objectif in fine est de proposer une réflexion sur l'avenir du rôle normatif de l'OMS. / The World health organization (WHO), as a specialized agency, was created, after the Second world war with the objective of, according to article 1 of its Constitution, the "attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”. For that purpose, the WHO was granted twenty two functions by the Member States including a normative one. This normative function allows, in theory, the WHO to adopt both binding and non binding health instruments. The extent of the scope of this function offers a wide and diverse content to theses norms with the only limit that it pursues a health purpose. At the same time, the WHO shows internal difficulties, in part, due to its regional structure and overall lack of financing. Further, the increase number and diversity of actors of global health result in potential external competition with the WHO. The reform initiated in 2010 and still ongoing proves that the WHO is a turning point in its history. In this context, this research seeks to understand and analyze the influence of the normative role of the WHO on national health systems. First, we study the normative authority of the WHO which appears weakened. With the objective of increasing health protection based on a reinforced global health law paradigm, our proposals aim at strengthening the normative authority of WHO. Then, our in-depth analysis of the normative activity of the WHO allows to the define the conception of norm by the WHO using effectiveness as our analytical frame. Finally, this research offers an opportunity to reflect on the future of the normative role of the WHO.