BAILLY Jessy, « Contester par les chiffres : analyse des collectifs d’audit citoyen de la dette en France, en Espagne et en Belgique », Critique internationale, 2024/2 (N° 103), p. 113-137. URL : https://www.cairn.info/revue-critique-internationale-2024-2-page-113.htm
Abstract
This article examines the uses of official numbers by activists associated with groups involved in the citizen audit of local debt, in France, Spain, and Belgium, as a means to critique government management of local debt and finance, during the European debt crisis in the 2010s. The contribution of the article is twofold. Firstly, it delves into previously documented critical uses of numbers in the literature, such as issuing warnings, challenging accounting conventions, and introducing alternative indicators. However, it also highlights previously uncharted uses of numbers to challenge public authorities, which involve assigning political accountability through quantification and highlighting the irresponsibility of political representatives due to the opacity of publicly available data. Secondly, building upon the research of Alain Desrosières and Joel Best, the article seeks to illuminate the activists’ relationship with numbers (their numerical consciousness). This exploration aims to provide a deeper understanding of the diverse and ambivalent ways in which activists employ public numbers. Special attention is given to the constraints and challenges these activists encounter when using numbers to articulate their criticisms.