Doing Intersectionality: Repertoires of Feminist Practices in France and Canada

Intersectionality has been adopted as the preferred term to refer to and to analyze multiple axes of oppression in feminist theory. However, less research examines if this term, and the political analyses it carries, has been adopted by women's rights organizations in various contexts and to what effect. Drawing on interviews with activists working in a variety of women's rights organizations in France and Canada, I show that intersectionality is only one of the repertoires that a women's rights organization might use to analyze the social experience and the political interests of women situated at the intersection of several axes of domination. I propose a typology of four repertoires that activists use to reflect on intersectionality and inclusiveness. Drawing on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the interview data, I show that hegemonic repertoires about racial or religious identity in one national context shape the way activists and organizations understand intersectionality and its challenges. The identity of organizations, as well as their main function (advocacy or providing service), also shape their understanding of intersectional issues.

Les limites du pouvoir de l'État dans les territoires. Les politiques de l'État dans le secteur de l'éducation et du logement en France

Cet article vise à contribuer à l'analyse du pouvoir de l'État français sur les territoires infranationaux en adoptant la notion de pouvoir infrastructurel développée par Michael Mann. Nous confrontons deux opérationnalisations de cette notion: la première se fonde sur les ressources à disposition de l'État, et la seconde sur le poids effectif de l'État dans les territoires infranationaux. Empiriquement, le propos s'appuie sur la comparaison de deux politiques sectorielles: les politiques d'éducation et les politiques du logement. A travers l'analyse de la capacité de l'État français à exercer un contrôle et à mettre en oeuvre ses décisions dans les territoires, cette étude nous conduit à conclure aux limites du pouvoir infrastructurel de l'État dans ces deux secteurs.

A Dethroned King? The Limits of State Infrastructural Power in France

Since the 1980s in Western Europe, centralized states' control over subnational territories has been deeply affected by processes of Europeanization and regionalization. These changes have raised the issue of state territorial restructuring in a particular fashion: what capacity have formerly centralized states retained to steer and control subnational territories? The article draws on Mann's concept of infrastructural power, which refers to the state's capacity to exercise control and implement political decisions over the national territory. The article applies the two main operationalizations of the concept, namely the capability of the state to exercise control and the weight of the state in the subnational territories. Empirically, the article focuses on the French state in two policy sectors (education and housing). Although France is a most likely case, this article challenges this expectation, and shows the limits of the French state's infrastructural power over the subnational territories since the late 1980s.