Du clientélisme à la technocratie : cent ans de démocratie communale dans une grande ville, Toulouse

Abstract

The remarkable stability of the ruling teams the paucity of conflicts between the municipality and central power, the progression of participation in local elections until 1935 and then, after World War II, the increase of abstentionism on the one hand, and on the other, the growth of municipal intervention, are examples of some of the major trends in the evolution of municipal power in Toulouse since 1884. Three patterns of municipal democracy can be observed: radical clientelisi democracy (1888-1912), the political-administrative machine of municipal socialism (1925-1940), the local peripheric technostructure (1959-1971). These patterns represent both historic stages of a general process of change in the municipal institution, and forms of local government linked to the objectives and to the specific political practices of municipal teams.