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Rezension von: Political science in history: research programs and political traditions. / James Farr ... (ed.). - Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1995

The Modern French Political History has been significantly transformed over the last twenty years. Apart from the pluralism of disciplinary approaches -law, political science, history- Pierre Rosanvallon's seminal work represents a landmark for the specialists of the political period inaugurated by the French Revolution. After presenting this historiography, we take a precise example in order to show the interest of these new approaches. Even though the history of the Conseil économique et social has been relatively neglected by scholars, it remains the third French constitutional assembly of the twentieth century. It held a specific position within the institutional framework in that it was not elected by universal suffrage but was considered by its members to be one of the rare "institutional representations of civil society". The successive attempts to create the Conseil économique et social during three different republics -in 1925, 1946 and 1958- offer an opportunity to connect the theoretical debates on the competing forms of democracy and the specific institutional experiences. By focusing on the composition, responsibilities and functioning of the different councils as well as on the debates which consistently accompanied their establishment, a series of questions emerge about elections, notions of representation, and sovereignty in modern political regimes. Inspired by Pierre Rosanvallon's political historical perspective, this study offers a new approach on the institutions, "corporate" tendencies, and interest groups of the French republican model.

The current historiography is marked by the return of exhibition biographies, the denunciation of explanatory determinisms or the militant refusal of the method; it seems time for the militant statement of the creative subjectivity of historian and the relativism of knowledge. However, this contribution is intended to show that the processing of political discourse benefits from being subjected to controlled and systematised analyses, using IT and statistics, in order to make the reading and interpretation of texts more objective. ; International audience ; The current historiography is marked by the return of exhibition biographies, the denunciation of explanatory determinisms or the militant refusal of the method; it seems time for the militant statement of the creative subjectivity of historian and the relativism of knowledge. However, this contribution is intended to show that the processing of political discourse benefits from being subjected to controlled and systematised analyses, using IT and statistics, in order to make the reading and interpretation of texts more objective. ; L'historiographie actuelle est marquée par le retour des biographies de salon, par la dénonciation des déterminismes explicatifs ou encore par le refus militant de la méthode ; l'heure semble à l'affirmation militante de la subjectivité créatrice de l'historien et du relativisme de la connaissance. Cette contribution entend pourtant montrer que le traitement des discours politiques gagne à se soumettre à des analyses contrôlées et systématisées, ici grâce à l'informatique et la statistique, afin de mieux objectiver les parcours de lecture et l'interprétation des textes.

In social sciences, a law can be defined as a finding of certain regularities in the interrelationships between social facts. These regularities observed, and then validated by the experiment cited, make it possible to propose laws, even if they are not necessarily universal and permanent in nature, as in some cases in physical science. In line with this approach and applying the principles of Claude Bernard's experimental method, we propose two of the demography laws of politics, the number law and the differential law. By means of the experiment referred to, their veracity can be established. The geography of the population can therefore provide useful lessons for political science. ; International audience In social sciences, laws result from interrelationships between social facts that can be frequently observed. These laws are not universal as they can be in physical sciences. However, once observed and experimented, regular events can lead to the recognition of laws. This is what we propose to do, following the principles of Claude Bernard's experimental method, in order to deal with two demogeographic laws of politics : the law of number and the law of differential. Hence we will see how useful for political science population geography can be. ; In social sciences, a law can be defined as a finding of certain regularities in the interrelationships between social facts. These regularities observed, and then validated by the experiment cited, make it possible to propose laws, even if they are not necessarily universal and permanent in nature, as in some cases in physical science. In line with this approach and applying the principles of Claude Bernard's experimental method, we propose two of the demography laws of politics, the number law and the differential law. By means of the experiment referred to, their veracity can be established. The geography of the population can therefore provide useful lessons for political science. ; Dans les sciences sociales, une loi peut se définir comme le constat de ...