"Developpement durable", "gouvernance" et "democratie": des assemblages discursifs aux repositionnements institutionnels

In: Politique et sociétés, Volume 28, Issue 2, p. 69-98

Abstract

As it is most often conceived, the theme of "sustainable development" refers to a wide range of changes to be carried out in all spheres of society. For this reason, it is logically in line with a tone of general mobilization. It frequently leads to a call for renewed procedures in the organization of community life, in order to encourage all the cooperations that could be useful. A common problem on the procedures to be put in place to reconcile -- or at least make them think & discuss -- actors with potentially divergent interests has thus formed around the issues of sustainable development & governance. In a sense, "sustainable development" is, more or less explicitly, to be taken as an incentive to rethink the issues of the practical experience of democracy & of the institutions from which it is supposed to operate. It is even a form of equation that almost tends to be raised between "sustainable development" & "democracy," with a relationship of dependency between the two terms. Such an assumption is an invitation to question the nature & the logics of this discursive assemblage, in particular to understand the institutional arrangements which tend to be redeployed. What kind of progress towards democracy is drawn? What assumptions are articulated? What proposals arrive in the discussions? To what devices might these proposals lead? What kinds of practices are taking shape & to what extent do they come as a continuation of what seems to be a renewed program of government? This contribution attempts to find answers to these questions. Adapted from the source document.