Survive in politics

Jean Tiberi entered politics in the 1951 legislative elections and withdrew to a defeat in these same elections 31 years later. He exercised local mandates (assistant and mayor of Paris), parliamentary mandates (in 3^e Then the 2^e district of Paris) and a government function (Secretary of State). His name was associated with “ the affair of the fake voters of the 5th^e borough).

As the title suggests, it is both an investigation into a political trajectory and a political science manual on the profession of elected official. It is also this double dimension that makes the breath of this intellectual project: Laurent Godmer defends from the introduction the idea that it is biographical work on the meaning of a political life which makes it possible to think of the meaning of the political profession in a more general way. We find this creed throughout the book: politics is a profession both visible and secret that is learned “ acts ” And “ in words This requires placing the focal length from below and taking its time. L. Godmer achieves immersion in the electoral stronghold of Jean Tiberi by settling in 2013 in the V^e arrondissement and by investigating from 2015 to 2019. However, the author warns us against the “ biography And the need to cross the analyzes and contextualize the data. The material is multiple: facts, events, situations, figures, interviews.

Exploration is offered in two parts (learning the profession of elected official ; Stay in the trade) and two chapters for each (professionalization and long duration in the first part ; risks and borders in the second part). The approach proceeds from a methodical reading which reminds us of the surgical technique of the scanner. The author passes Jean Tiberi to the sieve of a rigorous inspection of his trajectory. He detects, lists, details and orders a whole series of elements which aims to feed and objectify the analysis on his career.

5 habitus and 7 questions

For “ The exercise of the political profession “(First part), readers are invited to better understand the years that will mark the political habit of this” Corsica from Paris Born in a Gaullist family. THE “ origins “Go through a clinic (the one where Jacques Chirac was born two years earlier), a post-war youth marked by Gaullism, a baptism of fire in the legislative elections in 1951, a first municipal campaign, a second legislative election, a marriage, a law diploma, a second campaign, the birth of a child, a job in the chancellery … The frame (p. 50): “ How do you enter the political profession ? Laurent Godmer then offers in a few chopped pages a projection of this route to detail the formation of political habitus on three types of conditions: socio-cultural, political and territorial self-legitimacy.

The first profile “ A man’s higher middle classes profession “, The second quantifies” Prestige accumulated in youth years And the third highlights the practices of staging self that valued territorial belonging. The habit of “ accumulated prestige “(P. 51) is discussed on a decisive page where Laurent Godmer underlines the context of youth years and the test of the Algerian war for theUNR. For the young hierarch, it is a “ incomparable window of opportunity “And a” Accelerated access to the profession With the status of parliamentary collaborator of the René Capitant deputy.

Then the author takes us into a reflection on seven essential questions that mark the political route of Jean Tiberi: “ How do you learn the profession ? (P. 62) ; “” What to be in the profession ? (P. 114) ; “” What is the institutions ? (P. 164) ; “” What is the political profession ? (P. 187) ; “” Is politics a violent job ? (P. 221) ; “” What is political entrepreneurship ? (P. 270) ; and finally: “ What does get out of the political profession ? (P. 294). These questions punctuate and circumscribe each descriptive sequence in an impressive Bourdieusian setting for rigor and precision.

A combinatorial of logics of domination

The author successively theorizes several logics of domination:

– THE “ notable »Learn the profession by activating territory distribution and control circuits and by mastering a plurality of configurations ;

– he “ is in the profession Because it is well placed in the partisan structure and that it combines the two resources of “ objectified political capital “And” internalized capital »» ;

– he “ uses institutions By instrumentalizing them, monopolizing their activity and establishing themselves as an omnipresent character who, thanks to the clientelist proximity to the voters, controls and embodies the territory ;

– He founded the professionalization of his practices “ on pastoral work and growing technicality “Who” Hold entrepreneurial competence and personalized links together »» ;

Violence, sometimes visible, sometimes internal and always subjective, is certainly euphemized in local policy but it affects elected officials and shows the limits of their pacification work ;

Although an intermediation and intercession breakdown, the profession is nevertheless based on the two pillars of the personalization and territorialization of political control ;

– Finally, the withdrawal of Jean Tiberi is the fruit of a triple distancing on the mastery of new technologies, on environmental policies and in the face of the COVVID crisis.

Some enlightening elements are retained from this combinator. The young elected official hires a “ pastoral work And the metaphor works perfectly in an urban environment. He conquered a “ municipal kingdom “Until imposing himself as” vice-mayor »From the capital. It is the succession of tests which allows him to acquire the status of dolphin. The file on the false voters revealed by the Duck chained causes a stigma and an attempted putsch. The collapse of the system then confirms its anchor practices and inaugurates its status as an opposition mayor. And he then survived the fratricidal wars that multiply …

Throughout the book, the analysis framework is structured in reference to authors and specialized literature. The demonstration is robust scientifically. She confirms knowledge on the “ politician profession In a well -established critical approach, of Bourdieusian inspiration, on domination and the euphemized violence of power. Has the work reached its ambition to state, from the Tiberi case, a general manual ? We can answer it by returning, as the opening of the debates, on three of the force ideas identified over the 7 fields of knowledge.

Territoriality and sensitive determinants

The first concerns the hypothesis, long underguised in political science, that the territoriality is a structuring element of the political profession. We find the track of “ territorialized political control In all chapters and on all syntheses. In the conclusion, the author returns insistently to the metaphor of “ pastor who masters space, governs and embodies it (P. 298). Recognize the “ Pastoralization of political practices »Involve to significantly reconsider the personalization of mandates, the ritualization of political practices and the influence of local political cultures. Family episodes and emotional events that permeate his ascent therefore appear, in subsexte, enlightening (like the progression of “ Jean »Within theUNR). However, anchors, attachments and symbolisms of incarnation are precisely blind points (or secondary subjects) in critical sociology by domination while ethnologists have long invested and theorized the territoriality of political. This taking into account, although late, is an advance and good news for political science !

The second inforcement concerns some of the sensitive determinants which cause a “ ordinary man ” in a “ Extraordinary destiny ». We can see that Laurent Godmer has chosen to study Jean Tiberi to bring to light the process of individualization of political capital on a school case, almost a model of domination. However, thanks to the verbatims and the chronological meticulousness of the events, the study of this course “ banal and atypical Permanently reveals weaknesses that stick badly with stereotypes. In the ostracization and stigma mechanisms that mark “ the case of false voters For example (the suspicion of hundreds of fictitious inscriptions), we see that the elected official, placed in the heart of a “ subjective violence »Disproportionate, calls for faith and develops resilience capacities. Laurent Godmer certainly points out the religious semantic universe that surrounds his activity (self -giving, sacrifice, priesthood, mission, communion …), but we can regret that this material remains on the surface, in the department of instrumental communication, while many indices suggest that the wounds of power are to the foundations of political engagement.

What about public action ?

Finally, the third idea of ​​a counter-champ on the impression of a quasi-deconnection between electoral combat and public action. THE “ job »Certainly built on professionalization mechanisms but the process is only referred to technique and entrepreneurial skills. There “ micro-enterprise “The deputy mayor is theorized on a” parochialism »Completely oriented on the capture of resources. However, it is also based on moving territorial administrations, public policy standards, systems and measures on the defense of the general interest. The Long Verbatim of the Mayor on constructions and achievements illustrates this concrete report to the real (p. 231-232).

But Laurent Godmer prefers to conclude on the observation that the “ work ” of “ the politician “Illustrate” A plastic profession focused on the survival objective (P. 300, last line). The field data collected throughout his research, however, suggest that “ The meaning of the political profession »Mobilizes other objectives and other promises. Although discreet on this sensitive facet of local power, the work proposed by Laurent Godmer nevertheless offers us a great opportunity to explore its wealth and extent.