Gouverner la « démocratie locale » urbaine. Comités de quartier et conseils de quartier à Marseille, Toulon et Nice

Coming out of a long period of collective fieldwork, this comparative sociohistorical analysis focuses on issues related to setting up neighborhood committees in the French cities of Marseille, Toulon and Nice. From the perspective of the political sociology of public action, attention is paid to changes in relations between municipal leaders and these committees. The Vaillant Act was passed in a local context where these committees had major legitimacy territorially and institutionally as well as in terms of civic leadership. However, the Act disputed this legitimacy by allowing political officials in these cities to redesign relations with “middlemen” and with civic leaders and persons involved in this “local democracy”. Local authorities exploited this possibility — sometimes upholding and sometimes objecting to the role played by political middlemen from nonprofit organizations.