City government: a comparative analysis in two Swiss and two French cities.

Summary The government of a city is the product of an interaction between four dimensions: politics, administration, urban society and other public authorities. Applied to two municipalities in the canton of Vaud, Lausanne and Yverdon-les-Bains, and two French municipalities, Besancon and Pontarlier, this definition highlights two distinct phenomena. On the one hand, the interactions between these four dimensions are constantly evolving as a result of the changes affecting each of them, and in so doing the form and content of city government is being transformed. The first part of the thesis focuses on the dynamics of these transformations. On the other hand, local elected officials play an essential role in the system of government that combines the four dimensions: the members of the collegiate executive in Switzerland, the deputy mayors in France, are at the hinge of these different dimensions and ensure their regulation. The difference between the two countries lies in the existence of a central and collegial place of authority in Switzerland, the municipality, as opposed to a strong differentiation of the deputies in France behind a facade mayoral unit, as well as in the existence of procedures for citizen participation in the affairs of the city in Switzerland, procedures that do not exist in France. The second part of the thesis focuses on the place of elected officials in the relationships that are established between the four dimensions of city government, on the comparison of the modes of government that are set up around the municipality in Switzerland and the mayor in France, and on the existence or not of a local public space.