Forecasts of the 2004 French European Election

The purpose of this article is to build and to estimate a model which explains and forecasts the outcomes of the French European elections by department, by electoral district and at the national level. The model is accurate in forecasting the elections of the past. Its forecasts for the 2004 French European election are satisfactory and take into account the recent changes in the voting system.     

The Force of a Weak Field: Law and Lawyers in the Government of the European Union (For a Renewed Research Agenda)

Rather than considering legal and judicial arenas as the mere surface of the weighty social processes that shape European integration, this article contends that they are actually one of the essential spaces where the government of Europe is being produced. To account for this paramount role played by law in EU polity, two hitherto unexplored research paths are followed. First of all, a socio-historical perspective focuses on the critical junctures at which Law has been formalized as a science of European government providing critical devices for integration. Second, a more sociological stance is taken in relation to the functioning of the "European legal field" (ELF). A preliminary inquiry leads to its characterization as weak , with porous internal and external borders. This article argues that this weak autonomy is what makes it strong and influential when it comes to shaping the representations and principles of EU government.     

L'émergence d'une discipline scientifique. La création de l'Association Suisse de Science Politique (1951‐1959)

This article presents the results of a historical research on the creation of the Swiss Political Science Association in 1959. A first attempt of creation had failed eight years before, despite a favourable international context and the important scientific work of Marcel Bridel. Although Bridel was supported by several leading figures of the early political science, his proposal was met by the hostility of his colleagues, who had a historical, philosophical or juristic background. On the other hand, a few years later Jacques Freymond managed to create the Association in an almost administrative way and without any scientific discussion. The contrast between these two attempts illustrates the ambivalence of the institutionalisation process of Swiss political science since 1959. The institutional logic was more important during the creation of the Association than the scientific dimension, but has nonetheless been a useful basis to promote further scientific efforts. This initial ambivalence has had durable effects on the discipline, which obtained academic legitimacy without clearly taking position neither on its basic object, nor on its specificities with respect to the other social sciences or even ordinary discourses on politics. This has led to a disciplinary identity that is contingent, uncertain and fragile, and which calls for an epistemological reconsideration of the intellectual autonomy of political science.     

Penser le droit sans le social,Ou le contrat de Shylock

Qu'est-ce que tous ces développements ont à voir avec les relations entre la sociologie du droit et la sémiotique juridique?On pourrait objecter que l'exemple choisi se situe aux frontières du juridique et du social. On peut répondre à cela par un argument quantitatif qui a une importance particulière en sociologie: en France, plus de 70.000 enfants font l'objet d'une mesure judiciaire d'assistance éducative; bien souvent, les exemples choisis par telle ou telle étude de sémiotique juridique ne représentent qu'une infime partie de la pratique judiciaire (il en est exactement de même pour les juristes de droit dogmatique!) et sont finalement plus significatifs pour la vie du droit que pour la réalité sociale.     

Is democracy the only game in town? Tension between immigrants' democratic desires and authoritarian imprints

This article borrows from the literature on transitional democracies to examine levels of support for democracy and non-democratic alternatives among immigrants travelling from partly and non-democratic countries to Canada. It evaluates how immigrants who grew up under authoritarian rule come to adapt to democracy. The findings indicate that immigrants from partly and non-democratic countries experience tensions in their adaptation to democracy, expressing strong democratic desires but also manifesting what could be interpreted as lasting imprints of their socialization under authoritarian rule. Immigrants from partly and non-democratic countries exhibit strong support for democracy (they almost all believe it is a good form of government, the best one, and understand democracy in broadly similar terms as the rest of the population). Yet, if democracy is the main game in town for the immigrants, it is not the only one; immigrants from partly and non-democratic countries are significantly more likely than people socialized in a democratic political system to support other forms of governments that are non-democratic. The article thus argues for the lasting impact of authoritarianism on people's democratic outlooks despite the presence of strong democratic desires.     

Atypical Suicide by Submachine Gun

In case of suicide, the presence of multiple entrance wounds is always suspicious. We report the case of a man who committed suicide by shooting himself three times in the chest and the skull with a submachine gun. The weapon seems to have been initially pointed in the precordium area with a lethal lesion of the proximal aorta. Two other projectiles were fired by the weapon and hit the neck and the skull of the deceased. The presence of three entrance wounds despite a first fatal wound could finally be explained by the characteristics of the weapon and wounds. Most suicides related to multiple gunshot wounds are explained by a first nonlethal shot but the use of an automatic weapon can also be found. In these last cases, medicolegal and criminalistics aspects become important in differentiating suicide and homicide.     

Complex Suicide by Self‐stabbing and Drowning: A Case Report and a Review of Literature

Sharp force injuries and drowning are methods exceptionally combined in complex suicides. We report a challenging case of complex suicide by self‐stabbing and drowning that illustrates the difficulty in discriminating between homicide and suicide in such circumstances of death. The corpse of a young man was found submerged in a river, stabbed nine times with two wounds that had penetrated the thorax and had caused lung injuries and a hemopneumothorax. The postmortem and histological examinations were consistent with a death caused by drowning, but the manner of death still remained undetermined. Police investigation finally concluded to a suicide, although no suicide note had been left and the victim had no underlying diagnosed mental disorder. The parameters that may help distinguish suicide from homicide at the autopsy should be interpreted in light of a thorough forensic investigation to determine the exact manner of death in such a case.