Partis politiques et politiques du logement. Échange de ressources entre dons et dettes politiques

Political Parties and Housing Policies: Swapping Resources between Donations and Political Debts. - The question of the link between policy and politics is a recurrent issue in policy analysis. Taking its inspiration from the study of housing policy transformation in the last 20 years, the article proposes a new approach by assimilating this link to a process donations/debts exchanges between coalitions of actors positioned in different arenas. There are, on one hand, two competing coalitions belonging to the housing policy arena, with repertories of arguments, analyses and instruments, seeking new resources so as to alter the existing balance of power. On the other hand, political parties fight in the arena of political competition with resources depending on victory in the elections; they seek arguments, analyses and instruments to reinforce their legitimacy and distinctiveness. This complementarity of the stakes makes exchanges between these coalitions possible, but not systematic, mainly during election periods. One can observe the ability of political parties to influence, in certain conditions, public policies. One can also see the importance of experts for the mastery of the arguments and ideas in the political debate and the stakes represented by the existence of the controversies that go through them.