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The Conseil d'Etat and secularism. The advice rendered on 27 november 1989
The 27 November 1989 advice of the French Conseil d'Etat on the problem concerning secularism raised by a few Muslim girls who came to school with their hair hidden by a scarf signifies a two-fold shift : concerning the expertise function of the Conseil d'Etat, and concerning the meaning of secularism. The author identifies their expressions and seeks to show the issues and the consequences brought up by this double shift.

This article examines public policy expertise and policy deliberation from the perspective of the 'argumentative the turn' that emerged in the fields of policy studies and planning in the 1990s (Fischer & Forester, 1993). While discussion of policy analysis and advice-giving in politics is in no way new, the practices of expertise and advice has been changing over the later part of the past of the 20th century. The article seeks to show that the argumentative turn can be usefully employed to interpret these changing patterns, as well to offer a number of potentially useful prescriptions. Toward this end, the discussion begins with a brief discussion of the long history of thought about political expertise and advice in the United States. It then examines the limits of the social scientific approach and presents the new argumentative approach that has emerged as its challenger especially as reflected in the field of policy analysis. On its tenets is outlined, in particular, the often problematic border between facts and values. Adapted from the source document.

This article examines the policy of careers advice and practices in state schools through a specific instrument -the refusal to oblige pupils to retake Year 12 in the general and technological sections of the French lycée. The significance of this analysis refers to the political context of a society where the ideal called equal opportunities gradually gives way to the notion of fairness. Beyond the multiplicity of interpretations which can simultaneously refer to the interference of the neo-liberal ideology in the domain of public education services, demonstrations of contradictory social relations translating the notorious "world weariness", and the emergence of demands for further privatisation of the "community of individuals" in the face of a Republic Nation-State in a situation of crisis... detecting new stakes in careers advice explains the recent shifts in the line between state and private factors in the school. This perspective sheds new light on the new concerns and social concepts which dominate education through the issue of legitimising school practices in careers advice.

Profession : parents. Are there recipes to be happy ? It seems that, after 1968, it was thought in the media that it was possible to propose advice, if not solutions, to avoid the cruel "generation gap". The magazine Parents has become the champion of that tenet - and it sells well.

The role of experts in pol'al life can be analyzed by using econ'ts by way of illustration. The politician serves a special & distinct function & his job could not be taken over by experts in any one field. The position of any specialist can be nothing more than that of an advisor whose arguments are only one of the things taken into consideration in the final decision. This article studies the specific points which normally require the advice of econ'ts. It examines the reasons for, the unenthusiastic reception elected officials give his advice: mistrust on the part of the politicians about the sci of economics (due to disagreement among econ'ts & incorrect forecasting); [traditional] conformity to the (established) set-up of the state, whose structures & powers were conceived in a time when gov intervened only slightly in the economy; the power of pressure groups & the extensive audience they are in a position to influence in decision-making places. Tr & Modified from IPSA.

Banque Européenne pour la Reconstruction et le Développement (BERD). Views from Horst Köhler, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), about the Russian crisis, focusing on advice for foreign investors and Russian leaders; 1990s, chiefly. Summaries in English and Spanish p. 481 and 495-6. Some focus on the IMF, and on corporate culture.

British anthropology has gradually freed itself from its colonial roots and taken an interest in the workings of power relations within the different societies. Called on to give advice in our societies, anthropologists now use some of the same notions (classes, communities, family, locality) also used by geographers. But any real cooperation between the two disciplines remains to be constructed.

Claude Arditi — Peasants more professional than developers ? An example of Coton in Chad (1930-2002).
The history of cotton brings to light many misunderstandings between developers and the developed. Yesterday's developers and today's ngo's, which advice peasants on becoming professionals, have in common a total lack of interest in knowing local societies. The NGO's, just as aid and cooperation organisations, prefer agronomy, human and veterinary medicine, etc., at the expense of the social sciences. The understanding of peasant strategies should constitute the first basis of the process of professionalizing of developers.

Interview with Jaap van Dam, Director of Strategy PGGM. What are the activities of PGGM, and who are its customers? PGGM manages about 178 billion euros of assets on behalf of pension funds. The services we offer range from pension management to asset management, through operational advice to pension funds and affiliated companies, and their employees. Furthermore, we are developing additional services in the pension and health domain. We service businesses, including the health and social sector. Our biggest customer is PFZW, mandatory pension fund for health sector employees in the Netherlands, representing more than 2.4 million people, mostly women. Adapted from the source document.

Risk management is not only a question for outside consultants that provide advice to companies but also an issue that must be directly addressed by business leaders & managers. The ability to engage in calculations concerning how to limit and manage risks rests on clear knowledge of those risks, understanding of the risks and how they change, & on developing the capability to analyze situations that may create risk for a company. Such knowledge and understanding is integral to the concept of security: Such a vision must encompass global, geopolitical, & criminological perspectives & take into account the complex, polymorphous challenges & dangers in today's world. D. Knaff

Some members of an administrative body especially devoted to the colonization in Algeria, the administrators of the civil services of Algeria, are sent in France during the 50's in order to advice the prefects in "muslim affairs" in the regions where Algerians are increasingly immigrating. They build in metropolitan France a Muslim competence in shaping an administrative network with themselves, those they headhunted for the specialised associations, & the Algerians. The specificity of their Algerian competence is maintained with travels in Algeria & different trainings: those where the advisers are trainees & those where they are teachers, this way being recognized as the specialists for anything dealing with Algerians, until 1965. Adapted from the source document.

International anti-money laundering standards have been spreading across the planet for over two decades. This development obviously reflects the involvement of Western governments in the domain as well as the interest shown in the issue by private financial establishments. But it is worth examining the role played in spreading these standards by the transnational private firms that have developed services in connection with the diffusion of anti-money laundering practices: certification, advice and the provision of specialized computing tools. Research carried out in France in anti-money laundering circles reveals the extent to which, apart from the commercial aspect of their activities, these new "norm entrepreneurs" have imposed themselves by creating learning affects among professionals that ultimately reinforce the legitimacy and effectiveness of intergovernmental standards. Adapted from the source document.

Privatly owned mass media have been developing from the early 2000's. This change appears after more than four decades of complete blockage and domination of public mass media, the rise to power of Bachar al-Asad in 2000 having opened his way towards the private sector. However, is this change real? Is it a deep or a formal one? In order to try to understand this matter, the article approaches recent history in order to explain the birth of this situation, its blockages, its expectations, and faults. In the second part, the mechanisms as well as the working conditions of these media are exposed. Withour claiming to give advice, the article tries to show the point of view of the majority of actors on the public and private media stage in Syria. (Maghreb-Machrek/GIGA-ORDOK)