Quand l'action publique devient nécessaire: Qu'a signifié « résoudre » la crise de l'amiante ?

Abstract

The article focuses on the asbestos crisis (between 1994 and 1996) with a view to analyzing the consequences of the strong publicity associated with this issue's political and management process. Most obvious in such a process was the necessity for political actors to act in a spectacular way. However this cannot cover the specific logic of certain administrative sectors in the management of the problem. The analysis of such logic demonstrates that in spite of publicity's influence each administrative sector concerned responded differently due to their own specificity and predisposition to publicity. © 2004 Presses de Sciences Po.