Temporalités ()
La non-rééligibilité en France et aux États-Unis
Abstract
This article examines the temporal dimension of political representation. By looking at the plans to limit the re-election of members of parliament in France and the term limits in the United States, it highlights the conflicts and interests that revolve around the temporal codification of mandates. The idea of limiting the number of successive legislative terms allowed is not unanimous: the debates mix both anticipations of the limitation's effects on political practices and beliefs about democracy. Through an analysis of the discourses and actors mobilised in the debate, this article shows that the temporal codification of mandates superimposes, around the modernisation of institutions, the two referentials of renewal and efficiency, which paradoxically converge both towards a form of acceleration of the time of representation. On the one hand, the temporal recodification of mandates is presented as a means of improving the representativeness of assemblies, by promoting the diversification, rejuvenation and feminisation of elected representatives. On the other hand, the analysis of the arguments suggests another effect anticipated by some∙es actors of the debate: changing the time of representation would affect the effectiveness of legislative power. Parliaments are then seen more as legislative rather than representative bodies; it is less the composition of assemblies than the quality of their production that is targeted.
Keywords
