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February 25, 2026

The three big challenges facing Ukraine when the war ends

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Olena Borodyna, Senior Geopolitical Risks Advisor, ODI Global

Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year and, despite the growing impatience of Donald Trump, a breakthrough in peace talks looks a long way off. Yet even when the fighting does end, it will not represent a conclusion. Rather, it will mark the start of a considerable new challenge: reconstruction.

The crucial questions are not only how much reconstruction will cost, but also how it can be financed and whether Ukraine will have the skilled workforce needed to carry it out. Millions of Ukrainian citizens have left the country since the start of the 2022 invasion.

A further test will be whether Europe, which became Ukraine’s largest provider of military and financial assistance in 2025, can maintain the political unity needed to see reconstruction financing through in the long term.

1. Closing the funding gap

Ukraine’s reconstruction needs are enormous. According to figures released by the World Bank on February 23, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine will be around US$588 billion (£435 billion) over the next decade. This will only rise as the war drags on.

In an attempt to meet this figure, Ukraine and its allies are seeking to mobilise private capital. This has involved Ukraine’s parliament adopting a new public-private partnership law in June 2025 to incentivise private-sector participation in the reconstruction of economic sectors such as energy and transportation.

A war-risk insurance mechanism was also rolled out that year. Supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, it provides private companies that invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction with protection against war-related damages.

However, irrespective of these developments, the level of investment in Ukraine is likely to fall far short of what the country requires. In 2024, Ukraine attracted roughly US$3 billion of foreign direct investment, with reinvested profits making up the largest proportion. Data published by Ukraine’s central bank suggests this figure will drop in 2025.

A foreign investor sentiment survey from 2025 found that only 49% of members of the Global Business for Ukraine and the European Business Association, two groups of international companies focused on supporting and rebuilding Ukraine’s economy, are actually investing in the country. Nearly 70% of those surveyed cited the volatile security situation, which is likely to continue after the war, as the main barrier to investment.

Nearly 50% of those surveyed pointed to corruption, policy uncertainty and weak institutional capacity as barriers, while 34% voiced concerns about the strength of the rule of law. These are governance challenges that predate Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Ukraine’s ability to attract more private investment after the war will thus not only depend on the terms of the peace deal. It will also depend on how effectively the country manages to strengthen its institutions.

Private capital will play a role in Ukraine’s reconstruction. But its flows are far from guaranteed. So the donors and financial institutions that have sustained Ukraine throughout the war, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Investment Bank, will probably have to play a leading role in financing Ukraine’s longer-term recovery.

2. Encouraging Ukrainians to return

Nearly 6 million Ukrainians remain displaced abroad as a result of the war. There is no guarantee that these people, many of whom have spent years integrating into the labour markets and education systems of their host countries, will choose to return to Ukraine when the hostilities end.

Labour shortages, both skilled and unskilled, are one of the key challenges currently facing companies in Ukraine. And foreign investors have also cited labour availability as an important factor influencing their decision about whether to invest in the country’s reconstruction.

Encouraging Ukrainians to return voluntarily will require more than patriotic appeals: it will depend on there being viable employment prospects, functioning public services and credible security guarantees in place to prevent a resumption in the conflict.

Ukrainian refugees carry their belongings as they approach the Slovakian border. — Ukrainian refugees approach the border with Slovakia in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Yanosh Nemesh / Shutterstock

The Ukrainian government has begun taking steps to maintain connectivity with the diaspora. This has included opening so-called “unity hubs” aimed at sustaining ties with the refugees and facilitating their voluntary return. One such hub opened in Berlin in 2025.

Ukraine’s authorities are also developing a portal designed to connect refugees with employment and business opportunities at home. However, these initiatives remain in their early stages and uptake remains to be seen.

Without the return of refugees, Ukraine risks developing a structural skills deficit. Such a shortfall could deter private investment in the country’s reconstruction and lead to a reliance on external labour.

3. European political commitment

There is also a political dimension to the challenges associated with reconstructing Ukraine. Sustaining long-term support for the country’s reconstruction may become more complicated amid shifting political dynamics across Europe.

The consensus among European countries on supporting Ukraine has largely held. But upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in France, Italy, Denmark and elsewhere in 2026 and 2027 could shift the balance of power in key allied countries.

The elections are, at the very least, likely to absorb political attention and divert focus from unresolved questions. These include questions around the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction, where agreement remains elusive.

Signs of fracture are also beginning to emerge. The EU has looked to push through a €90 billion loan to cover Ukraine’s needs for 2026 and 2027. Three countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary – abstained from the deal over the closure of an important oil pipeline in Ukraine. And Hungary now appears to be holding up the loan.

Reconstruction will be a test of political endurance as much as financial capacity. The question that will arise after any peace deal is reached is not only how to fund Ukraine’s recovery, but whether its allies can sustain the political consensus required to do so over time.

Olena Borodyna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The three big challenges facing Ukraine when the war ends – https://theconversation.com/the-three-big-challenges-facing-ukraine-when-the-war-ends-276214

February 25, 2026

The unintended consequences of decarbonising steelworks

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steffan James, PhD Candidate, Sustainable Supply Chains, Cardiff University

For more than a century, Port Talbot in Wales has been dominated by its steelworks. The daily lives of residents have been shaped by this industry. Shifts have set the traffic, sirens marked time, at night the furnaces lit the sky orange. Steel wasn’t just an industry. It was the rhythm of this place.

Where outsiders saw towers, smoke and steel, locals told me in interviews that they saw pride, beauty and belonging.

In 2023, the multinational corporation Tata Steel announced it would replace Port Talbot’s coal-fired blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace. The news felt inevitable after years of uncertainty. The promise of £1.25 billion of investment was cautiously welcomed when total closure was the other option. It would save 2,000 jobs, but another 2,000 would go. The shift was framed as a step toward a greener future.

Since that announcement, my PhD research has tracked the consequences of the action, conducting multiple rounds of interviews with a broad range of people to monitor unintended, or unanticipated, consequences as they arise.

Steel sits at the centre of overlapping, nested systems – from local communities to the national economy and global markets. Altering one part of a system sends tremors through the rest. Systems scientists describe this dynamic as panarchy: a concept from ecology that explains how interconnected systems operate at different scales and timescales, so change propagates unevenly and often in unexpected ways.

With this approach, focusing only on emissions risks a kind of carbon tunnel vision. Judging success by a single metric misses how one decision ripples into livelihoods, culture, mental health and identity.

Immediate surprises

When the blast furnaces shut, the change was immediate. The noise stopped. The air cleared. Residents told me how their windows were clean and when they left washing outside to dry, it no longer came in dusted grey. Families who had lived with industrial pollution for decades spoke of tangible relief.

In the short term, the local economy saw unexpected positive ripples. Redundancy payments and government transition grants meant more money circulating locally for a time and gave people the capital to try new ventures, from pizza making to dog walking. So far, 85 new businesses have been created.

painting of steelworks — Painting of the steelworks by artist and former steelworker Peter Cronin.
Peter Cronin, CC BY-NC-ND

Creativity became a way to process change, loss and pride all at once. Schoolchildren painted murals beneath the motorway as they imagined a different future for Port Talbot. Artists captured the towering cranes on the beach before they made way for the new electric arc furnace. The town hosted Urdd Eisteddfod, Europe’s largest youth cultural festival and people celebrated.

But not everyone experienced these changes in the same way, or at the same time. After the immediate change came quieter, more troubling effects which emerged more slowly. Steelmaking wasn’t just a job. Many former steelworkers told me of the pride, dignity and identity it gave them. When the furnaces closed, loss of purpose, stress and depression followed in ways that don’t show up in emissions data or balance sheets.

The local economy shifted again too. The short-term boost from redundancy money faded. Businesses that relied on a large, stable workforce began to feel the loss. The town entered an uncertain medium-term phase, where opportunity and fragility coexisted.

colourful murals on concrete pillars — Murals of Port Talbot’s past, present and future imagined by The Steeltown Storybook: Children’s Chapter.
Emily Adams, CC BY-NC-ND

A slow shift

Ecosystems don’t change overnight; they slowly reorganise over decades as conditions change. Port Talbot’s coast is a good example of a novel urban-industrial ecosystem, where industry has helped shape the conditions that wildlife now uses.

Alongside the steelworks, Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir – built to serve the site and designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its birdlife – sits alongside sand dunes that support nationally rare plants such as sea stock.

Because of this long coexistence of nature and steel, moving to an electric arc furnace won’t instantly restore or erase what’s there, but will gradually reshape the local ecology as species and habitats adjust.

The new electric arc furnace will cut the steelworks’ carbon emissions by about 90% – around 8% of the UK’s industrial total.

But the global picture is more complicated. As Tata shuts the blast furnaces in Wales, it is building a new one in Kalinganagar, India. Even before the announcement about Port Talbot was made, unions warned that this could export emissions rather than reduce them, shifting the carbon cost of transition thousands of miles away. Even the most modern blast furnaces still emit far more carbon than electric arc furnaces.

steel protest banner — Striking steelworkers banner warning of unintended but not unanticipated consequences.
Steffan James, CC BY-NC-ND

Beyond Port Talbot

Heavy industry must change if emissions are to fall fast enough. But in places like Port Talbot, that change lands unevenly. Some residents see opportunity, others feel loss. Versions of this story are unfolding worldwide, wherever climate policy meets heavy industry.

Decarbonisation isn’t a quick technical fix, but a complex social, economic and ecological transformation whose success depends on how well we understand them. Complex effects ripple out over time at different scales.

Job losses are immediate. Ecosystems adapt more slowly. Consequences on our warming planet will take decades to become apparent. Achieving a just transition from carbon involves looking beyond single metrics to account for how change ripples through interconnected systems over time.

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Steffan James does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The unintended consequences of decarbonising steelworks – https://theconversation.com/the-unintended-consequences-of-decarbonising-steelworks-275045

February 25, 2026

How Peter Mandelson went from US ambassador to arrested over misconduct claims

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sam Power, Lecturer in Politics, University of Bristol

Peter Mandelson was released on bail this week after being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Coming just days after the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the images of the former US ambassador being led away by police will likely stick with viewers for some time.

The political ramifications of Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US continue to reflect badly on Keir Starmer’s political judgment. While this is a story that will likely run and run, it is worth taking stock of how we got here.

December 19 2024: Mandelson appointed US ambassador

When Starmer chose Mandelson as ambassador, the general reaction was that it was a risk. The BBC pointed to his friendship with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and described him as “not a baggage-free choice”. This baggage, if being friends with a known paedophile was not enough, included having to resign from government twice during the New Labour years.

Matthew Lynn, in the Telegraph, went further, arguing that he would make a “terrible” ambassador because he was both “damaged goods” and “put politely … accident prone”. For balance, Tom Harris (also in the Telegraph) described Mandelson as a “political genius” and “the right man to deal with Trump”.

This was, ultimately, the gamble taken by Starmer and his team. They appointed a known associate of Epstein with a dubious ethical track record, but who was – as a Downing Street source told the BBC in February 2025 – “supremely political” and a “brilliant operator”.

May 8 2025: Front and centre of UK-US trade deal

“Cometh the hour, cometh the Mandelson”, read the Guardian headline the day after the UK and the US agreed to a trade deal. A deal which, not for nothing, may well have been unpicked by Trump’s response to the Supreme Court ruling his tariffs unconstitutional. The Times said that Mandelson had “proven the doubters wrong”, and called him the “Trump whisperer”.

This was the moment, as I previously outlined in the Conversation, of supreme triumph. And it was widely seen, across the political spectrum, as vindication of the risk Starmer took.

September 8 2025: Birthday messages to Epstein released, Mandelson fired

The wheels came off with the release, by a US congressional panel, of a 238-page scrapbook given to Epstein for his 50th birthday. In it, Mandelson’s multi-page message to Epstein described him as his “best pal”. Mandelson said that he regretted “very, very deeply indeed, carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done”.

Starmer was initially supportive of Mandelson in the Commons, but sacked him after newly surfaced emails showed that he had sent supportive messages to Epstein when he faced charges of soliciting a minor in 2008. The BBC later reported that Number 10 and Foreign Office officials were aware of these emails prior to Starmer’s defence of Mandelson at prime minister’s questions, but that Starmer himself was not aware of the contents.

January 30 2026: Further Epstein files released

The release of further information about the close relationship between Mandelson and Epstein pointed to potential criminality. The emails, published by US officials, suggest that Mandelson passed privileged and market-sensitive information to Epstein during the fallout of the financial crisis. This led to the police investigation for misconduct in public office. Mandelson’s position, according to the BBC, is that he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.

February 4 2026: MPs approve the release of documents

A House of Commons debate was held surrounding the release of files related to the appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador. Starmer initially suggested that files which could damage diplomatic relations or national security would be exempt from release. However, after an intervention from Angela Rayner, the government agreed to include a cross-party parliamentary committee in the process. The BBC has subsequently reported that these documents could number over 100,000.

February 23 2026: Mandelson arrested

Mandelson was arrested Monday night on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and released on bail Tuesday morning. Mandelson has claimed that his arrest was based on the “complete fiction” that he was a flight risk and planning to flee to the British Virgin Islands (which have an extradition agreement with the UK). It has now emerged that Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle passed information to the police ahead of the arrest.

What happens now?

Misconduct in public office is notoriously difficult to prosecute and tends to rely on a three stage test: that the accused must have been acting in an official capacity at the time of the alleged offence, that they wilfully misconducted themselves and that that conduct falls “so far below acceptable standards that it amounts to an abuse of the public’s trust”.

Legal experts suggest that the latter is an incredibly high bar. In this instance it might well be the case that simply leaking information does not meet that bar, and that the police will need to show some kind of material gain or beneficial exchange. Either way, Mandelson will ultimately be required to return to a police station when he will either be charged, have his bail extended or face no further action.

Further questions, naturally, will also be asked of Starmer’s judgement. A Cabinet Office due diligence report into Mandelson’s appointment is reportedly expected as early as next week. The document is said to have warned of the “reputational risk” of making him ambassador.

If this is the case, it could reignite conversations about Starmer’s leadership and a potentially bruising night in the Gorton and Denton byelection on Thursday won’t help. Though Starmer’s replacement in most circles is now being discussed as a matter of when, not if.

In the end, Starmer is learning the hard way – just as Boris Johnson did before him – that standards matter in British politics. It is not enough, as Starmer did when he updated the ministerial code, to just talk a big game. One cannot say that “restoring trust in politics is the great test of our era” and then do very little to actually address the root cause of that trust.

Sam Power has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

– ref. How Peter Mandelson went from US ambassador to arrested over misconduct claims – https://theconversation.com/how-peter-mandelson-went-from-us-ambassador-to-arrested-over-misconduct-claims-276787

February 25, 2026

Canada’s new open banking legislation could help women experiencing economic abuse

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sebastien Betermier, Associate Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

The year 2026 is poised to be a breakthrough one for open banking in Canada. Bill C-15 — which would implement measures from the 2025 federal budget — is currently before Parliament.

If passed, Bill C-15 will complete and modernize Canada’s Consumer-Driven Banking Act by giving the Bank of Canada oversight over a new open banking framework that lets consumers and small businesses securely share their financial data with the third parties they choose.

To date, discussions about this new framework have largely focused on promoting competition and technological innovation. Equally important, however, is its potential to help women experiencing economic abuse.

Economic abuse is widespread

Economic abuse is a hidden and harmful form of gender-based violence that happens when someone uses money or other resources to control, exploit or harm another person.

Common abuse tactics include restricting access to household income and benefits, withholding financial information, monitoring every purchase, excluding a partner from critical financial decisions, building up debt in their name and preventing them from accessing banking or credit on their own.

Statistics Canada and federal data show that financial abuse disproportionately affects women. The Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment estimates that economic abuse affects one in three women who are victims of intimate partner violence nationwide.

In a study of victims of gender violence in the Ottawa region, 93 per cent of respondents reported not having access to their own money. Eighty-six per cent said they had been ordered to quit work by an abusive partner, leading to further isolation and financial dependence.

Economic abuse also extends beyond households into family-owned and co-owned businesses, which make up over 60 per cent of Canadian businesses.

It is common for one partner to “handle the books” and be the only person with access to business banking, merchant accounts, payroll systems and tax portals. The other partner may be a legal director of the corporation but have no access to the company’s financial information.

Existing bank policies can unintentionally reinforce this imbalance. If a director is not listed on the bank’s forms, staff often refuse to confirm whether any accounts exist, let alone release statements or transaction histories — even when that director is legally responsible for the corporation.

This can leave survivors and business partners unable to document wrongdoing, verify financial activity or protect their legal and economic interests.

Helping women experiencing economic abuse

Open banking is fundamentally about consumer control and protections around sharing financial data. Under an open banking framework, banks are no longer the sole gatekeepers of financial information.

This means a person who can prove their identity can authorize a regulated third party — such as an accredited app, accountant or a lawyer — to retrieve the data they are legally entitled to. They wouldn’t have to rely on another account holder or log in on a shared device in an unsafe environment.

Consider, for example, a woman who jointly owns a café but whose partner is the only person dealing with the bank. He refuses to give her the login and destroys paper statements. When she goes to the branch alone, staff tell her that both owners must consent before they can release detailed records. She suspects money is being taken out of the business but has no way to confirm it.

In an open banking environment, once her identity as a co-owner is verified, she can authorize a regulated provider to pull the transaction history and loan information for the business account through secure data sharing. The bank would be obliged to supply this data through the open banking channel. Her partner’s password and co-operation would no longer determine access.

A trauma-informed open banking framework

The ability of Canada’s new open banking framework to help mitigate economic abuse will depend on how survivor safety, joint accounts and small business governance are addressed. We can learn from other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom where researchers have partnered with both banks and victim-survivors to build survivor-centred banking frameworks.

Banks and accredited providers need clear protocols for working with survivors. In Australia, customer-owned banks have developed protocols to verify identity safely, handle joint accounts in situations of conflict and avoid notifying an abusive partner in ways that escalate risk.

These protocols can include silent authentication processes, independent verification for each legal account holder, safeguards against automatic notifications and referral pathways to legal or community support when financial abuse is suspected.

Community organizations, shelters and legal clinics also need resources to act as trusted intermediaries, helping clients use open banking tools without exposing themselves to digital surveillance or retaliation. In the U.K., community legal clinics and domestic violence organizations already act as trusted intermediaries.

Policymakers should recognize open banking as part of Canada’s response to economic abuse and small business resilience, not only as a competition or financial sector reform. If designed with safety in mind, data mobility can help survivors document abuse, regain financial autonomy and keep businesses alive.

Eric Saumure, CPA, CA and principal at Zenbooks and founder of OpenSME, co-authored this article.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Canada’s new open banking legislation could help women experiencing economic abuse – https://theconversation.com/canadas-new-open-banking-legislation-could-help-women-experiencing-economic-abuse-273692

February 25, 2026

Vancouver built up fast — but now its older towers face an earthquake reckoning

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Preetish Kakoty, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Civil Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, UCL

In 1957, Vancouver took a decisive turn in its urban development when city council lifted the eight-storey height limit in the West End neighbourhood on the downtown peninsula, opening the door to high-rise living along English Bay. Over the next two decades, more than 300 mid- to high-rise concrete apartment buildings went up, some rising beyond 30 storeys.

Today, these towers form the backbone of the West End, and a crucial share of downtown Vancouver’s housing supply, including much of what remains relatively affordable.

But there’s a catch. These buildings may be dangerously susceptible to damage from earthquakes. When many of these buildings were designed, seismic requirements in Canada’s national building code were rudimentary.

Since then, earthquake science and engineering have advanced significantly, and building codes have changed with them. Seen through today’s lens, many of Vancouver’s 1960s- and 1970s-era high-rise apartment buildings, while code-compliant at the time of construction, are now considered seismically vulnerable.

Our recent study of typical older West End high-rise concrete buildings estimated a significantly high risk of major damage if a strong earthquake were to strike the region.

Our findings confirm what many local engineers have long understood. The City of Vancouver and Natural Resources Canada have also previously highlighted that a small number of older mid- and high-rise concrete buildings drives a large share of seismic risk, and are clustered downtown and in the West End neighbourhoods.

Older concrete more vulnerable

Most vulnerable buildings in the West End were built with non-ductile reinforced concrete, a form of construction common before modern seismic detailing requirements. As a result, these buildings can experience sudden, brittle failure under strong shaking.

Modern engineering practices explicitly design concrete to be more ductile, with knowledge that has evolved over decades, to better withstand earthquakes. But older buildings predate such practices. That makes them especially vulnerable to earthquake damage.

After the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, where similar types of construction suffered severe damage, local experts in Vancouver urged mandatory seismic assessments of these older buildings.

Since then, there’s been no citywide program, but a handful of voluntary retrofits, mostly in commercial buildings where individual owners chose to act. The city, however, has been actively exploring policy options to address the complex problem of reducing seismic risk posed by these privately owned buildings.

The vulnerabilities extend beyond the buildings themselves. Most people living in the West End are renters, with many being lower-income and elderly residents. The people most reliant on these buildings often face the greatest barriers to preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters.

These are sobering challenges faced by aging buildings and the communities that call them home. But there are ways governments can plan for a resilient future.

Lessons from elsewhere

Vancouver isn’t alone in facing this challenge. In Los Angeles, Seattle and across the Pacific in New Zealand, other cities are grappling with the risks posed by non-ductile concrete buildings.
Los Angeles has approximately 1,500 non-ductile concrete buildings. In 2015, the city adopted a mandatory program requiring owners of pre-1977 concrete buildings to assess, design and complete retrofits over a 25-year period.

Instead of broad grants or tax breaks, Los Angeles paired the mandate with a limited cost-recovery option for rent-stabilized buildings. Owners can pass up to 50 per cent of verified costs onto tenants, capped at a rent increase of $38 per month for 10 years.

Despite this program, maintaining an accurate inventory and tracking compliance has proven difficult, with outdated city records for non-ductile buildings. While the framework is clear, implementation remains a work in progress.

Financial support for retrofits

A black and white aerial photo of a city near a waterfront — A 1965 view of Downtown Vancouver’s West End and Coal Harbour neighbourhoods from English Bay.
(J.S. Matthews)

Retrofitting aging buildings is sensible but hard to sell to owners because there are no immediate benefits. It’s expensive, disruptive and tangled in split responsibilities and incentives. Owners often don’t occupy their property, and don’t feel the urgency to act.

From an owner’s perspective, a mandatory retrofit that costs millions can feel unfair. The building met the code of its day, so why should they shoulder major costs to meet moving goalposts as the building code updates? And although tenants benefit from retrofits, there is no reasonable justification for them to bear the massive cost of upgrading someone else’s property.

As building codes evolve to reflect new science, governments also have a role to play. Effective policies should be informed by the needs and concerns of all stakeholders, with financing and implementation tools that enable risk reduction.

A 2023 report from the U.S. National Institute of Building Sciences recommended risk-reduction investments, funded through incentives shared by all beneficiaries, including the government, insurers, the real estate industry, financial institutions, tenants and future owners.

The goal, ultimately, is public safety and resilient communities. Getting there means every stakeholder pulling in the same direction. Retrofits are a crucial lever, but not the only one. Clear risk communication to the people who bear them can unlock momentum, aligning market forces with transparent regulations, technical support and financing that make action feasible.

Seismic retrofit can and should accompany climate adaptation and energy retrofit. The same dollars can reduce seismic risk, enhance energy efficiency, and make them more habitable in the changing climate. Honest engagement about shared responsibility for risk in aging buildings, backed by practical, durable financing, should be at the heart of the agenda.

Preetish Kakoty received funding from the University of British Columbia for the work related to this article.

Carlos Molina Hutt acknowledges the support of Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council through Discovery Grant RGPIN-2019-04599, titled “Enhancing the seismic resilience of Canada’s built environment through comprehensive risk-based assessments of tall buildings.” As well as Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration Grant (NFRFE-2018-01060) titled “Reducing the catastrophic risk of a Cascadia megathrust earthquake in southwest British Columbia.”

– ref. Vancouver built up fast — but now its older towers face an earthquake reckoning – https://theconversation.com/vancouver-built-up-fast-but-now-its-older-towers-face-an-earthquake-reckoning-263700

February 25, 2026

Send reform: will the government’s plans work for children, parents and teachers? Experts react

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Charlotte Haines Lyon, Associate Professor: Education, York St John University

The government has published its delayed proposals for education reform in England, which include significant changes to how the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system operates. Our panel of education experts have been scrutinising the plans, which have been anxiously anticipated by many teachers and parents.

A fundamental shift in support

Paty Paliokosta, Associate Professor of Special and Inclusive Education, Kingston University

The government is proposing a gradual but fundamental shift in how the system uses education, health and care plans (EHCPs). EHCPs will remain, but far fewer children are expected to receive them. The first children with an existing EHCP to move to the new system would be pupils at the end of primary, secondary and post-16 in the academic year 2029-2030.

Instead, most support is intended to take place through a strengthened universal offer (support available to all children) and several layers of extra provision, only one of which will include an EHCP. The aim is to reduce the pressures that have made EHCPs the perceived, default route for help and promote a universally inclusive approach. This will succeed if the new layers are credible, consistent and properly resourced.

The introduction of nationally defined specialist provision packages marks a major change. These will determine the support available to children with the most complex needs and will form the basis of future EHCPs. Alongside this, individual support plans will outline day‑to‑day provision for all children receiving extra help, co‑produced with families.

In principle, this could create a more coherent system, based on inclusive values, which is very welcome. In practice, this needs to reflect on capacity. Schools cannot deliver more without the time, training and specialist expertise that have been in chronic short supply.

The proposal to reassess children’s entitlements to support at ages 11 and 16 is especially significant. These are critical transition points already associated with anxiety, academic pressure and identity changes.

Unless reassessment is handled with sensitivity – and backed by genuine specialist involvement – it risks introducing uncertainty precisely when stability is most needed. For many families, reassessment may feel like a potential removal of support, despite this not being the intention.

The open government consultation on the proposals is therefore crucial. It must test not only the design of these reforms but their real‑world viability. If the new layers of support do not arrive before EHCP access is tightened, families will simply experience another cycle of promises unsupported by provision. The system cannot afford another misfire.

Ending the postcode lottery

Jonathan Glazzard, Rosalind Hollis Professor of Education for Social Justice, University of Hull

The government hopes to end the postcode lottery of support and restore families’ confidence in the special educational needs and disabilities system. New national inclusion standards will set out the support that should be available in every mainstream setting. Statutory individual support plans will include key information about the child’s needs and the day-to-day provision in place to address these for all pupils with Send.

All staff will benefit from national Send training, supported by record investment of over £200 million. £1.6 billion will enable schools, colleges and early years settings to deliver an improved inclusion offer. In addition, £3.7 billion will be invested to make buildings more accessible, create more special school places and develop inclusion bases in mainstream schools.

£1.8 billion will be allocated to fund an “experts at hand” service to improve access to speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and occupational therapists in mainstream schools.

In total the government plans to invest £7 billion more on Send, and core funding for schools and Send is expected to increase annually.

There is much to consider but on the surface the investment and vision look promising. There is a clear commitment to inclusive mainstream education, a determination to improve outcomes for children with Send and a desire to “call time” on a broken Send system.

Children walking down staircase at school — The government’s plan will increase provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

Mainstream inclusion lacks specialist support

Johny Daniel, Associate Professor, School of Education, Durham University

The government’s investment in mainstream inclusion is welcome and long overdue. Increased spending on Send support and on expertise beyond school, signal genuine intent to identify and meet pupils’ additional needs earlier and more consistently.

However, the specialist provision model outlined in the policy appears oriented primarily around health, sensory and complex cognitive needs. There is little attention to specific learning difficulties, one of the largest special educational needs categories. It is not clear that children with specific learning difficulties would meet the threshold for the specialist provision planned, and yet no specialist teaching workforce is proposed to support them.

The proposed reforms’ reliance on teaching assistants to support children with special educational needs is particularly concerning. The government’s policy document cites headteacher perceptions of teaching assistant effectiveness as justification. However, observational research consistently shows that teaching assistants lack the expertise to deliver structured interventions for pupils with additional needs.

What is missing is investment in specialist teachers embedded within mainstream schools, professionals trained to provide targeted support for academic learning and social-emotional needs. Without this, children with specific learning difficulties risk remaining underserved, even within a better-funded system.

Relationships between families and schools

Charlotte Haines Lyon, Associate Professor: Education, York St John University

The government openly acknowledges parental disengagement with the education system and its roots in a breakdown of trust. This comes from negative experiences of the education system, poverty and the failure of Send provision. This is a more honest starting point than much policy of the last decade and is genuinely welcome.

At surface level, there is much to appreciate in the rhetoric. The government explicitly states its ambition to move from “a broken social contract to families as partners”. However, on closer examination the proposals offer less partnership than the language used suggests.

What it actually sets out is a list of expectations about how parents should behave — around attendance, behaviour, communication and engagement with learning at home. While these expectations may seem reasonable, genuine partnership is built through dialogue and the slow rebuilding of trust, not through the imposition of standards.

This matters particularly because those most targeted by these expectations are precisely the families who have had greatest reason to distrust schools. These are white working-class families, those in persistent poverty and families whose children have been failed by the Send system.

The government has acknowledged this distrust but then responded to it with the threat of mandated engagement “where it is lacking”. This is not only contradictory, but risks deepening the very distrust it seeks to repair.

At first glance, the focus on the relationship between families and schools echoes the groundbreaking 1967 Plowden report, which introduced parents’ evenings and written reports as mechanisms of institutional accountability to families. But the comparison reveals a significant shift in direction.

Plowden directed its obligations toward schools and local authorities. These proposals reverse that dynamic. It is parents who are now expected to open up to schools, to be accountable to them, and ultimately to face compulsion if they do not comply. The direction of obligation has fundamentally changed.

Paty Paliokosta co-leads the National SENCO Advocacy Network and sits on the National Executive Committee of SEA.

Charlotte Haines Lyon, Johny Daniel, and Jonathan Glazzard do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Send reform: will the government’s plans work for children, parents and teachers? Experts react – https://theconversation.com/send-reform-will-the-governments-plans-work-for-children-parents-and-teachers-experts-react-276660

February 25, 2026

European Capitals of Culture: a diplomatic linchpin in an unstable world?

Source: The Conversation – France – By Maria Elena Buslacchi, socio-anthropologue, chercheuse post-doc à L’Observatoire des publics et pratiques de la culture, MESOPOLHIS UMR 7064, Sciences Po / CNRS / Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)

Trenčín in Slovakia (pictured here with its castle on a hill), and Finland’s main port city Oulu jointly carry the 2026 European Capital of Culture crown. CC BY

This year the cities of Trenčín in Slovakia and Oulu in Finland took the helm as Europe’s cultural beacon cities. As the Old Continent redefines its role on the global geopolitical stage, the European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) programme is at a turning point. The European Commission recently launched a public forum initiative to collectively rethink the future of the programme after 2033. ECoC’s role as a tool for cultural diplomacy is now more important than ever.

Created in 1985 against a backdrop of thawing Cold war tensions and the political construction of the European Union project, the European Capital of Culture initiative was initially designed to celebrate the continent’s cultural diversity. Since then, it has become a laboratory for contemporary policies, but also a barometer of the hopes, contradictions and challenges of Europe itself.

Historical context is key to understanding the launch of the European Capitals of Culture: the end of the Cold War, in a divided Europe where the Iron Curtain was beginning to crumble and the European Economic Community (EEC) was gradually expanding. The programme came about, incidentally, thanks to a chance conversation at an airport between two prominent politicians: Jack Lang, who was France’s Minister for Culture Culture at the time, and Melina Mercouri, an activist actress who was then Greece’s Secretary of State for Culture.

Both had an ambitious vision: to use culture as a vehicle for unity, even though it seemed an overlooked aspect of European policy, as Monica Sassatelli, a sociologist at the University of Bologna, points out in her study on the role of culture in the historiography of European politics. The first cities which were chosen – Athens, Florence, Amsterdam, then Paris translates an aspiration for awarding the future European Union symbolic legitimacy. These historical capitals, as beacons of artistic and intellectual heritage, embody Europe’s arts, creativity and traditions, which transcend political and economic division.

Culture as a tool for urban generation

Next up was Glasgow (Scotland, UK). A declining industrial city marked by deindustrialisation and endemic unemployment, Glasgow City Council developed a strategy to revitalise the city centre in the late 1980s, aiming to mark a symbolic turning point and pave the way for its title as European Capital of Culture in 1990.

The promotional campaign “Glasgow’s Miles Better” pioneered the mix of former warehouses and culture, with the aim of revamping certain key cultural institutions (Scottish Opera, Ballet and Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Citizen Theatre) and creating a new exhibition centre capable of hosting local and international artists and events. The Scottish city’s Arts Director Robert Palmer, future author of the first report on the initiative in 2004, considered the 1990 event as the starting point for a participatory process of redefining local culture “from the bottom up”, which could include artistic excellence as well as historical, rural and industrial traditions, and reconnect with a well-established tradition of popular culture and leisure activities.

Alongside major concerts by Luciano Pavarotti and Frank Sinatra, a whole series of associations and small local collectives took to the stage. In Glasgow, the year 1990 redefined the boundaries of the word “culture”, ultimately embracing the city’s industrial history and allowing its population to identify with it.

According to sociologist Beatriz Garcia, this regenerative effect on images and local identities is the strongest and most lasting legacy of the ECoC, beyond its economic and material impacts. This pioneering case, alongside other contemporary examples such as Bilbao and Barcelona in Spain, serves as a model. In other European cities, industrial premises are being transformed into theatres, museums or festival venues: the “Creative City” attracts millions of visitors and stimulates the local economy. When Lille in Northern France was elected “ECoC 2004”, it unveiled a dozen “maisons folies” across greater Lille and Belgium. These “crucibles of artistic and cultural innovation”, local initiatives cropped up, for the most part, on abandoned sites or former industrial wasteland.

The Maison folie in Wazemmes (Lille).
Wikimedia, Karlsupart, CC BY

In 2008, Liverpool (England, UK) used the programme to regenerate its waterfront and attract investment. At the turn of the century, the ECoC initiative was no longer limited to promoting cities that were already shining a light on international cultural scene, but became a real tool for urban transformation, used by places that were struggling to economically or socially reinvent and reposition themselves.

This change marks an evolution in urban policy, where culture is increasingly seen as a lever for economic development, on a par with infrastructure and policies designed to attract visitors. European Capitals of Culture are becoming an instrument of this policy, capable of attracting public and private funding, creating jobs in the cultural and tourism sectors, and improving the image of cities that are often stigmatised.

ECoC: an experimental space for testing contemporary transitions

However, this approach has its critics. The first reflective studies conducted in the early 2010s highlight how they can also exacerbate social and spatial inequalities if they are not accompanied by inclusive public policies. In Marseille in the South of France, in 2013, the issue became public with the organisation of an unofficial programme on the sidelines – i.e. parallel and alternative fringe events denouncing the side effects and undesirable consequences of the official programme. While Marseille’s stint as an ECoC was still an expression of the regeneration logic at work in previous years, it also marked the moment when social inclusion emerged as a central issue for these mega-events.

The Europe-wide cultural initiative has always been open to criticism, partly thanks to the very mechanics of the project, which often sees people who played a key role in previous editions of the programme returning to the selection panels for electing new European Capitals of Culture. Their participation, which had been questioned during Marseille-Provence 2013, has thus become an essential part of successive editions – in Matera-Basilicata (Italy) 2019, and citizen involvement will be one of the project’s key themes.

At the end of the 2010s, European Capitals of Culture also became a platform for the major challenges of the 21st century and a space for experimenting with ecological, social and digital transitions. Rijeka, Croatia, European Capital of Culture in 2020, illustrates the evolution. The city, marked by its industrial past and significant migration flows, focuses its programme on issues of migration and minorities, echoing the humanitarian crises affecting Europe. The cultural projects that have been set up: exhibitions, artist residencies, public debates brought together under the slogan ‘Port of Diversity’ – aim to promote intercultural dialogue and question the multiple identities of contemporary Europe. Similarly in the French town Bourges, in the running for 2028, is building its bid around ecological transition. The “Bourges, territory of the future” project is taking on the challenge of carbon neutrality for the event, using the ECoC as a springboard for climate action at the local level.

2033 and beyond: ECoC facing geopolitical and environmental challenges

While the European Capitals of Culture scheme is currently scheduled to run until 2033, the future of the title is under debate. The European Commission has launched a public consultation to imagine tomorrow’s ECoCs, in a context marked by geopolitical and environmental crises. The 2025 European Capitals of Culture, Chemnitz (Germany) and Nova Gorica/Gorizia (Slovenia), have developed a white paper on the future of the cultural initiative, based on observations from 64 past and future European Capitals of Culture. Forty recommendations are proposed to influence the programme reform process in the post-2034 cycle.

Among its key themes, the white paper emphasises the desire to strengthen the European dimension. This could be achieved by introducing a fundamental selection criterion based on European identity, emphasising European values in programming, developing a unified branding strategy and strengthening cross-border cooperation.

The selection and monitoring process, deemed too bureaucratic, is also being called into question, with the main recommendation being to favour encouraging rather than punitive monitoring. The legacy of the event is also up for debate: cities should be held accountable for delivering on the promises made in their bids, and national governments should be more involved in supporting cities during and after their capital year. The dissemination of good practices, peer review and mentoring between former and future ECoCs, which already exist informally, should be recognised and institutionalised, in particular through the possible creation of a central platform supported by the European institutions.

The challenge now is reconciling its symbolic and strategic role, ensuring that future editions do not merely celebrate, but aim to bolster democratic participation and transnational solidarity in an increasingly fragmented geopolitical landscape.

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Maria Elena Buslacchi ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. European Capitals of Culture: a diplomatic linchpin in an unstable world? – https://theconversation.com/european-capitals-of-culture-a-diplomatic-linchpin-in-an-unstable-world-276892

February 25, 2026

Lever le voile sur les microbiotes inconnus des coraux du Pacifique à bord de Tara

Source: The Conversation – France in French (2) – By Shinichi Sunagawa, Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Les récifs coralliens sont des structures qui abritent une variété de microbiomes formant un réservoir de diversité taxonomique (c’est-à-dire d’espèces, genres et familles), génétique et chimique. Shinichi Sunagawa, Fourni par l’auteur

Depuis des décennies, nous voyons les récifs coralliens comme les « forêts tropicales aquatiques » : des écosystèmes colorés et complexes regorgeant de poissons, d’éponges et de coraux. Cependant, nos recherches récentes suggèrent que cette vision passe sous silence un aspect crucial des récifs coralliens. Au-delà de leurs couleurs si vivaces, ils abritent tout un monde microscopique. Cet univers caché se compose de nombreux ingénieurs chimistes, qui pourraient détenir les clés d’une prochaine génération de médicaments vitaux.

Nos travaux, publiés aujourd’hui dans Nature, fruit d’une collaboration internationale entre mon laboratoire et ceux des professeurs Paoli et Piel avec la Fondation Tara Océan, montrent que les coraux ne sont pas de « simples » animaux individuels, mais plutôt des « super-organismes ». On pourrait les imaginer comme des villes animées où le récif corallien fournit un habitat vivant à des milliards de microbes qui y accomplissent des fonctions vitales.

Ce que nous avons découvert au sein de ces communautés microscopiques nous a stupéfiés : en analysant 820 échantillons provenant de 99 récifs coralliens à travers le Pacifique, nous avons reconstitué le génome de 645 espèces microbiennes vivant dans les coraux… dont plus de 99 % étaient totalement inconnues.

Qui plus est, nos études génétiques montrent que ces minuscules résidents ne sont pas passifs, mais des ingénieurs chimistes prolifiques : ils abritent dans leur ADN une immense variété de « plans » biosynthétiques (qui visent la formation de composés chimiques par des êtres vivants, des bactéries par exemple). Cette variété est plus grande que ce qui a été documenté jusqu’à présent dans l’ensemble des océans du monde.

Comment avons-nous fait cette découverte ?

Notre découverte a commencé à bord de la goélette de recherche Tara, longue de 36 mètres et conçue pour résister à la glace arctique. Après avoir mené une exploration approfondie du plancton dans les océans du globe, Tara nous a servi de laboratoire flottant pour la mission Tara Pacific. Pendant plusieurs années, notre équipe a visité 99 récifs à travers le Pacifique. La vie à bord de Tara, c’est l’unique combinaison d’une navigation pas toujours paisible et d’une biologie high tech : tandis que l’équipage gérait le navire, des équipes de plongeurs collectaient des échantillons de coraux dans des archipels éloignés de plusieurs milliers de kilomètres.

De retour à terre, un vrai travail de détective a commencé. Le séquençage de l’ADN au Centre National de Séquençage français (Genoscope) et la reconstruction des génomes à l’aide des supercalculateurs de l’ETH Zurich nous ont permis de décoder les informations génétiques des microbes coralliens.

Ainsi est apparue une carte des microbiomes coralliens du Pacifique, à une échelle inédite. Nous avons découvert que les microbes sont très spécifiques à leurs hôtes coralliens ; chaque espèce de corail possède sa propre empreinte microbienne façonnée au cours de millions d’années d’évolution.

En quoi cette découverte est-elle importante ?

La plupart des médicaments actuels ont été découverts dans la nature, le plus souvent à partir de bactéries du sol. Mais aujourd’hui, les bactéries résistantes aux antibiotiques constituent une menace mondiale croissante et nous sommes à court de nouvelles pistes dans le sol.

C’est là que les minuscules mais puissants « ingénieurs chimistes » des récifs coralliens prennent toute leur importance en termes d’applications potentielles. Dans leur ADN, ces microbes codent des ensembles de gènes biosynthétiques : des manuels d’instructions pour construire diverses molécules biochimiques, y compris des antibiotiques.

En effet, comme les microbes associés aux coraux vivent dans l’environnement hautement compétitif des récifs, ils ont développé des armes chimiques sophistiquées pour défendre leurs hôtes ou combattre leurs rivaux. En identifiant ces ensembles de gènes biosynthétiques, nous avons donc découvert une « bibliothèque moléculaire » écrite dans un langage que nous commençons seulement à traduire. Ces substances chimiques pourraient peut-être apporter des solutions aux défis biotechnologiques et aux maladies humaines.

Quelle est la prochaine étape ?

Notre découverte de nouvelles espèces microbiennes et de la diversité biochimique des coraux n’est qu’un début. L’expédition Tara Pacific n’a étudié qu’une poignée d’espèces de coraux, alors qu’au moins 1500 ont été décrites dans le monde entier, ce qui suggère un énorme potentiel de percées scientifiques.

Mais une tragédie est en train de se dérouler : à mesure que le changement climatique réchauffe les océans, les récifs coralliens meurent. Lorsqu’un récif disparaît, nous ne perdons pas seulement un magnifique écosystème, nous assistons à la « combustion » de cette bibliothèque, avant même d’avoir eu la chance d’en lire les livres.

Le voyage qui a commencé sur Tara est désormais une course contre la montre pour percer les secrets contenus dans les microbiomes des coraux et autres organismes récifaux avant qu’ils ne disparaissent à jamais. Il est essentiel de protéger les récifs, non seulement pour l’environnement et les millions de personnes qui en dépendent directement, mais aussi pour préserver la pharmacie biologique qui pourrait protéger la santé humaine pour les générations à venir.

Shinichi Sunagawa a reçu des financements de la Swiss National Science Foundation.

Chris Bowler ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Lever le voile sur les microbiotes inconnus des coraux du Pacifique à bord de Tara – https://theconversation.com/lever-le-voile-sur-les-microbiotes-inconnus-des-coraux-du-pacifique-a-bord-de-tara-276891

February 25, 2026

Corruption des élus locaux, anatomie d’un phénomène français

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Bertrand Venard, Professeur / Professor, Audencia

Contrairement à ce que l’on peut voir dans d’autres pays européens, les atteintes à la probité font rarement figure d’enjeu majeur lors des élections en France. Le pays connaît pourtant bien un problème de corruption et de mauvaise gestion des deniers publics, notamment à l’échelon local.

La corruption municipale en France constitue un enjeu essentiel pour la démocratie. Selon le Baromètre 2025 de la confiance politique du Cevipof, 46 % des Français expriment une défiance envers les élus locaux et, plus grave, 79 % ont un sentiment négatif à l’égard de la politique en général. De même, selon une étude européenne, 69 % des Français pensent que les institutions publiques locales et régionales sont corrompues.

Cette défiance s’explique en partie par la récurrence des affaires de fraudes révélées ces dernières années, comme l’illustrent les condamnations de Patrick Balkany, longtemps maire de Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), ou de Jean-Noël Guérini, ancien président du Conseil général des Bouches-du-Rhône, poursuivi pour avoir truqué l’attribution de marchés publics. Ces pratiques criminelles peuvent fragiliser les finances des communes, comme le montre le cas de corruption au sein du village d’Eringhem, dans le Nord.

Ces affaires sont survenues dans un contexte d’augmentation régulière de la corruption constatée : la France a ainsi connu une croissance de 50 % des atteintes à la probité entre 2016 et 2024. Le pays s’est doté en 2016 d’une autorité administrative indépendante pour lutter contre ce phénomène : l’Agence française anticorruption (AFA). Parmi les 235 signalements reçus en 2024, 61 % concernaient des affaires de corruption des collectivités territoriales.

Même si les élus locaux font le plus souvent leur travail avec rigueur et probité, ce constat interroge sur l’efficacité des dispositifs de prévention et sur la capacité des institutions à garantir l’intégrité des élus. Comment expliquer la surreprésentation des responsables locaux dans les affaires de corruption ?

Des occasions multiples de corruption

Pour commencer, de nombreuses occasions de corruption se rencontrent dans la vie locale, notamment dans les achats publics, l’attribution de subventions, la gestion des ressources humaines locales ou l’octroi d’autorisations en tous genres, notamment liées à l’urbanisme. Un rapport publié par l’Association des maires de France (AMF) rappelle ainsi que les communes gèrent annuellement plus de 100 milliards d’euros de dépenses publiques.

Ces flux financiers considérables peuvent être plus ou moins bien gérés. En prenant l’exemple des achats de prestations de conseil, un rapport de la Cour des comptes de 2025 mentionne différents manquements : une définition insuffisante des besoins, une mise en concurrence des prestataires loin d’être systématique (contrairement à ce que prévoient les règles en vigueur), des règles de sélection pas toujours claires ou encore l’absence d’évaluation formelle des prestations réalisées.

La permanence des élus et l’enracinement des réseaux d’influence

Par ailleurs, la longévité des mandats locaux peut favoriser l’émergence de pratiques clientélistes et de conflits d’intérêts. En France, 45 % des maires en exercice effectuent un deuxième mandat ou plus. Et la longévité des maires est encore davantage marquée dans les plus petites communes. Ainsi, la mairie de Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) est gérée par la gauche depuis 1989, alors que celle de Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) est aux mains de la droite depuis 1947. La multiplication des mandats consécutifs peut renforcer la professionnalisation des maires, mais aussi augmenter la concentration de leur pouvoir, voire l’emprise de réseaux d’influence.

Les magistrats de la Cour des comptes notent ainsi que « dans le cadre de la reconduction de marchés conclus par les communes de Béziers et de Marseille ainsi que par la région Occitanie, les offres des prestataires en place, présents depuis plusieurs années, ont été retenues, au motif, notamment, que la qualité de leur travail avait donné pleine satisfaction à ces collectivités ». Cette pratique ne permet pas à la concurrence de s’exercer pleinement et constitue une opportunité de favoritisme.

Au contraire, l’alternance politique apparaît comme un puissant antidote à l’enracinement de la corruption. Une étude menée sur les gouvernements locaux au Brésil a ainsi démontré que le simple fait de changer l’exécutif en place par une alternance du parti au pouvoir suffisait à perturber les liens établis entre politiciens, fonctionnaires et hommes d’affaires locaux, assainissant ainsi la gestion municipale.

Il existe de plus un effet de contagion. Quand une municipalité est touchée par la corruption, les communes avoisinantes présentent un risque accru d’être également concernées. La limitation des mandats et le renouvellement des équipes dirigeantes sont donc des impératifs démocratiques, pour prévenir l’enkystement des pratiques illicites.

L’audit interne : un contrôle sous influence ?

Les mécanismes de contrôle interne (audits, inspections) sont censés garantir la probité des élus. Cependant, des limites existent à leur efficacité. Ainsi, les directeurs financiers (DAF) et les services d’audit des mairies dépendent hiérarchiquement de l’exécutif municipal. Une étude suédoise a montré que les auditeurs internes minimisent régulièrement les irrégularités graves pour éviter les conflits avec leur employeur. En pratique, l’efficacité des dispositifs dépend donc de leur indépendance réelle. Un système de contrôle interne, s’il est conçu par ceux-là mêmes qu’il est censé surveiller, devient une chambre d’enregistrement.

Les contrôles externes, quant à eux, peuvent être marqués par une certaine faiblesse. Par exemple, les chambres régionales des comptes sont seulement en mesure de contrôler une infime partie des collectivités, notamment en raison de moyens humains et financiers limités. Les rapports officiels mettant en lumière des manquements à la probité ne sont par ailleurs pas toujours suivis d’effets. Par exemple, la Cour des comptes a fait part de ses doutes sur la gestion de la ville de Marseille dès 2013, mais les condamnations ne sont intervenues qu’une dizaine d’années plus tard.

Les audits peuvent pourtant être efficaces. Il existe une corrélation négative observable entre la qualité des audits et le niveau de corruption – plus les contrôles sont rigoureux et indépendants, moins la corruption est importante.

D’autres outils de contrôle peu efficaces

Face à la défiance citoyenne, les collectivités locales ont multiplié les dispositifs de contrôle et de transparence. Par exemple, depuis 2013, les maires doivent faire une déclaration de patrimoine auprès de la Haute Autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique (HATVP). Cependant la HATVP considère que seulement 52,8% des déclarations initiales seraient entièrement conformes aux exigences d’exhaustivité, d’exactitude et de sincérité. Près de la moitié d’entre elles nécessiteraient ainsi des déclarations modificatives ultérieures.

Les mairies se sont également pourvues de comités d’éthique. Mais un risque significatif existe que ces comités soient composés de proches de l’exécutif et se limitent à des avis consultatifs. Par exemple, après de retentissantes affaires de corruption, la mairie de Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis) a créé une commission éthique en 2020, qui n’a qu’un rôle consultatif.

Une autre mesure du même type est le recours à un déontologue ou la mise en place d’une charte déontologique. Même adoptée par une mairie, une charte n’a pas de valeur contraignante, et semble davantage s’inscrire dans le registre de la communication que de l’action.

En effet, la lutte contre la corruption peut désormais s’intégrer pour les maires dans le cadre de stratégies visant à accroître leur légitimité auprès de parties prenantes : l’électorat, les médias ou, directement, les représentants de la République, notamment ceux garants des contrôles. Dans ce cadre, comme dans toutes les organisations, les dirigeants d’une municipalité peuvent adopter le vocabulaire et les symboles de la bonne gouvernance, sans pour autant modifier en profondeur leurs pratiques.

Ces stratégies d’évitement constituent des exemples de ce que l’on qualifie de « découplage organisationnel », c’est-à-dire des situations où les institutions adoptent des normes formelles pour légitimer leur action, sans modifier leurs pratiques réelles.

Loyauté et impunité, des valeurs municipales qui s’opposent à l’éthique

Une autre explication de la corruption au niveau local peut résider dans une certaine culture de la loyauté, susceptible de primer sur les impératifs éthiques. Dans le microcosme de l’hôtel de ville, la première des vertus n’est en effet pas la probité, mais la fidélité au chef.

L’affaire Guérini illustre un tel système clientéliste. Celui-ci s’était établi à Marseille, avec des procédures d’attribution des marchés publics méthodiquement détournées au profit de proches de Jean-Noël Guérini comme de son frère, Alexandre. Ce cas de corruption illustre comment une culture politique fondée sur l’allégeance personnelle peut anéantir tous les garde-fous éthiques et légaux.

Enfin, la corruption locale s’explique par la faiblesse des sanctions. La Cour des comptes, dans une analyse récente de la politique de lutte contre la corruption en France, dresse un constat alarmant :

« Les atteintes à la probité donnent lieu à peu de sanctions en France. […] S’agissant des mesures administratives, les poursuites disciplinaires dans la fonction publique sont mal répertoriées, peu fréquentes et inégalement appliquées. »

Selon elle, 53 % des dossiers transmis aux parquets ne font pas l’objet de poursuites. Quand les fraudeurs ne sont pas punis, la corruption devient progressivement un « phénomène normal ».

Corruption locale en France : un défi démocratique à relever

Des élections municipales sont toujours un test pour la démocratie locale. Associer mairie et corruption dans l’esprit des citoyens risque d’augmenter encore l’abstention lors du prochain scrutin, alors que celui de 2020 avait déjà été marqué par une forte baisse de la participation.

Cette année-là, l’ONG Transparency International avait demandé aux élus de se prendre position sur l’enjeu de la corruption, avec un certain succès puisque 190 listes candidates avaient souscrit aux engagements proposés.

Si les candidats ne se saisissent pas sérieusement du sujet, nous pourrions assister à une augmentation du désengagement citoyen et, par ricochet, à l’émergence de candidats opportunistes, promettant une « rupture » avec des élites traditionnelles jugées corrompues.

À l’inverse, un véritable intérêt pour le sujet, une transparence accrue et le renouvellement des équipes municipales pourraient restaurer la confiance – à condition que les promesses ne restent pas, cette fois encore, lettre morte.

Bertrand Venard ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Corruption des élus locaux, anatomie d’un phénomène français – https://theconversation.com/corruption-des-elus-locaux-anatomie-dun-phenomene-francais-273730

February 25, 2026

Lignes du front : les soldats poètes qui défendent l’Ukraine

Source: The Conversation – France (in French) – By Hugh Roberts, Professor of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies, University of Exeter

En Ukraine, dans le contexte de la guerre lancée par la Russie en février 2022, la poésie joue un rôle essentiel dans le traitement des traumatismes subis par la population, tout en renforçant sa capacité de résistance.

Selon des experts occidentaux du renseignement – et sans doute aussi les forces russes –, Kiev était censée tomber dans les jours qui ont suivi le début de l’invasion à grande échelle le 24 février 2022. Ils n’avaient pas pris en compte la résilience d’une société qui défend depuis longtemps sa langue et sa culture, et dans laquelle les poètes ont pendant des siècles résisté aux tentatives russes d’effacer l’identité ukrainienne.

Dire qu’il y a eu une renaissance de la poésie en Ukraine est un euphémisme. Depuis la Première Guerre mondiale, on n’avait plus vu d’œuvres d’une telle qualité et en telle quantité, écrites par des poètes qui sont également des combattants. La société civile a répondu à cet élan par des séances de lecture de poésie qui ont fait salle comble dans les abris anti-bombes des villes situées en première ligne, mais aussi par des initiatives telles que le portail Poetry of the Free (« Poésie des gens libres ») du ministère ukrainien de la culture, qui a reçu plus de 43 500 contributions depuis février 2022.

Un jeune soldat ukrainien avec des fleurs dans les cheveux — Maksym Kryvtsov, soldat et poète mort au front en 2024.
Wikicommons, CC BY

La poésie de guerre ukrainienne n’est pas d’un abord facile. En effet, elle s’exprime actuellement sous des formes anciennes et primitives : prière, témoignage, cri de ralliement et de malédiction. Au milieu du bruit des actualités géopolitiques, des commentaires, de la désinformation et du brouhaha des réseaux sociaux, elle revient avec insistance sur l’élément le plus important de tous : les gens.

Comme l’écrivait le célèbre poète Maksym Kryvtsov (1990-2024) dans son recueil Poèmes des tranchées (2024) :

« Quand on me demande ce qu’est la guerre, je réponds sans hésiter : des noms. »

Kryvtsov était lui-même mitrailleur et défendait l’Ukraine bien avant l’invasion à grande échelle. Il a été tué par un obus russe en janvier 2024, quelques jours seulement après la publication de son premier et dernier livre.

Les poètes de la résistance

Il y a trop de poètes ukrainiens importants pour tous les citer, mais pour l’heure deux noms se distinguent tout particulièrement dans le mouvement de renaissance poétique ukrainienne : Yaryna Chornohouz et Artur Dron.

Ces deux poètes ont servi leur pays. Chornohouz est toujours opératrice de drone au sein du Corps des Marines ukrainiens dans la ville de Kherson, située en première ligne. Dron s’est engagé en février 2022, quatre ans avant d’atteindre l’âge de la conscription, et est aujourd’hui un vétéran après avoir été gravement blessé. Tous deux ont vu leurs poèmes publiés en anglais, en français et dans d’autres langues, et ont remporté d’importants prix littéraires en Ukraine.

La poésie et la vie de Chornohouz sont étroitement liées à la défense de l’Ukraine contre la menace existentielle que représente la Russie. Ses écrits sont également empreints de lamentations et de témoignages.

« L’art ukrainien en temps de guerre : résister par la culture » (France Culture, 20 avril 2025).

Son poème « Les fruits de la guerre » s’inspire de son expérience en tant que secouriste depuis 2019. C’est un cri pour que les vies d’une valeur inestimable perdues sur le champ de bataille ne tombent pas dans l’oubli, malgré tout.

Dron parle de ces pertes invisibles et oubliées dans son recueil Hemigway ne sait rien en 2025. Sa poésie et celle de Chornohouz et d’autres poètes de guerre ukrainiens offrent une forme puissante de commémoration qui peut être d’autant plus universelle qu’elle est intensément personnelle. « La première lettre aux Corinthiens », dernier poème du recueil de Dron intitulé We Were Here (Nous étions là, 2024), évoque l’amour qui anime son choix de défendre l’Ukraine.

Les jeunes hommes de la compagnie de Dron étaient très proches d’un soldat plus âgé qu’eux, leur médecin, Oleksandr « Doc » Kobernyk, qu’ils considéraient comme leur professeur.

Dans Hemingway ne sait rien, Dron revient à plusieurs reprises sur une histoire qui s’est déroulée lorsque leur position dans une forêt a été soumise à des bombardements russes soutenus. Désorienté par une lésion cérébrale, il part à la recherche de Doc, mais apprend par son commandant qu’il a été tué. Chargé d’évacuer son corps et ne disposant pas de civière, il l’enveloppe dans un sac de couchage. Alors que le corps de Doc est encore chaud, le poète ressent l’amour qui émane de son professeur.

« La poésie face à la guerre : le récit d’un capitaine de l’armée ukrainienne » (Le Figaro, 10 janvier 2026).

Le jour où Olena, la femme de Doc, a appris sa mort, elle a écrit un poème. Sa lecture a déclenché l’écriture de Dron que la guerre avait bloquée.

Si nous y prêtons attention, la poésie de guerre ukrainienne peut nous transmettre au moins une partie de l’amour et du souvenir de ce qui compte vraiment. La poésie, la langue, la culture et l’identité sont des questions essentielles pour la sécurité de l’Ukraine. Pour ceux qui se trouvent dans une relative sécurité au-delà des frontières ukrainiennes, mais qui sont néanmoins confrontés à la menace russe, le moment est peut-être venu, comme pour l’Ukraine, de s’inspirer des traditions poétiques.

Même si, comme l’a écrit le poète britannique Alfred Tennyson, nous sommes « affaiblis par le temps et le destin », nous pouvons encore trouver en nous

« la volonté
De chercher, lutter, trouver et ne rien céder ».

En France, les éditions du Tripode ont publié C’est ainsi que nous demeurons libres, de Yaryna Chornohouz. Les poèmes d’Artur Dron ont été publiés par les éditions Bleu et Jaune.

Hugh Roberts bénéficie d’un financement provenant d’une bourse Curiosity Award du Conseil de recherche en arts et sciences humaines (numéro de subvention UKRI3524), d’une bourse Talent Development Award de la British Academy (référence de subvention TDA25250282) et d’une subvention Connections through Culture du British Council (numéro de subvention 5143).

– ref. Lignes du front : les soldats poètes qui défendent l’Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/lignes-du-front-les-soldats-poetes-qui-defendent-lukraine-276903