Social movements literature has repeatedly stressed the importance of ingrained dispositions to activism. Scholarship on political participation has pinpointed how socio-economic inequalities largely determine the propensity to get involved in politics. Therefore certain social groups – with little cultural and political capital, and no background in activism – are generally expected to remain outside of political life. Yet recent movements like the Yellow Vests in 2018-20 France have thrust “ordinary citizens” into the limelight. To what extent did their unprecedented commitment contribute to giving the movement some of its unique features? Did this experience of protest affect their relationship with politics? Based on ethnographic biographical interviews with first-time protestors, we argue that becoming Yellow Vests has fostered a two-pronged politicization process: first, through their increased defiance towards specialized politics; second, through their criticism of social order, which brings the social question back in after years of interpreting conflict as "cultural".
This special issue, instead of questioning what effect peacebuilding interventions have on post-conflict societies, analyses what the ground of intervention does to peacebuilders. It demonstrates that everyday interactions on the ground shape the interveners and even the scope of their missions. We delineate how a political sociology approach might break away from binaries ('internationals/locals') and, instead, illuminate processes (of internationalization and localization). We intend to offer a political sociology of the 'intervention encounter', that is, to scrutinize the everyday interactions among peacebuilders and between peacebuilders and domestic actors, and to investigate effects of the ground on peacebuilding organizations, doctrines and decision-making processes, as well as on peacebuilders' trajectories, positions, professional practices and representations. In fine, we explore how peacebuilders' relations to the ground structure the socio-professional field of peacebuilding.
Prenant pour objet une organisation de victimes de guerre omniprésente dans la Bosnie-Herzégovine des années 2000, cet article s’émancipe du débat relatif à la contribution de la « société civile » à la démocratisation et lui préfère une étude empirique des liens entre État, partis politiques et organisations collectives. En pointant le rôle que joue l’Union serbe de détenus de camps dans les entreprises partisanes de conquête et d’exercice du pouvoir, puis en dévoilant la place occupée par cette organisation dans le système pyramidal de représentation des intérêts et de répartition des ressources publiques en Republika Srpska, cet article met au jour les logiques partisanes et néo-corporatistes de certaines mobilisations de victimes de guerre. Si ce mode de gouvernement reflète les continuités relatives du néo-corporatisme yougoslave dans la Bosnie-Herzégovine post-socialiste, il est également affecté par les modalités de l’intervention internationale de construction de la paix.
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