This paper offers a precise definition of neoclassical economics based on three axioms which lie at the latter's foundations. This definition is all inclusive in that it applies as much to the neoclassical economic models of the late 19th century as it does to today's more flexible and 'inclusive' models. The paper argues that these axioms, simultaneously, (a) provide the foundation for neoclassicism’s discursive success within the social sciences and (b) are the deep cause of its theoretical failure. Moreover, (a) and (b) reinforce one another as neoclassicism's discursive power (which is largely due to the hidden nature of its three foundational axioms) makes it even less likely that it will conduct an open, pluralist debate on its theoretical foundations (i.e. the three axioms which underpin it)

The criterion of envy-freeness, according to which no agent should prefer any of his neighbours' allocation to his own, has become a central part of the economic theory of distributive justice. It essentially corresponds to the need to express an ideal of equality in societies where preferences and endowments are heterogeneous. This paper surveys various formulations of the idea of envy-freeness, starting with the simple distribution model, then adding the possibility for agents to have different native talent endowments, and finally moving to models with production. Many classical results are displayed, but emphasis is also put on recent developments, mainly the ideas of 'minimizing envy' and of 'absence of domination'. Five major difficulties facing envyfreeness are identified and listed as directions of future research.

À quelle aune mesurer les progrès d’une économie, voire de l’humanité tout entière, en direction d’une économie plus circulaire ? À quels aspects, quels enjeux, quelles problématiques nos indicateurs devraient-ils être sensibles afin de saisir les tendances de circularisation à l’œuvre dans nos économies et également afin de pouvoir critiquer d’éventuelles incomplétudes, voire certaines hypocrisies, dans la façon qu’ont certains de vouloir mesurer la circularité au seul niveau micro d’entreprises ou de secteurs ? L’objectif du présent article n’est pas de construire un indicateur ou un « tableau de bord » d’indicateurs. Nous entendons nous situer à un plus grand niveau d’abstraction et de généralité afin de mettre en évidence certains des principaux aspects, enjeux et questionnements que les concepteurs d’un tel indicateur, s’il devait un jour être bâti au plan formel et technique, devraient, selon nous, prendre en compte.

More than modus vivendi, less than overlapping More than modus vivendi, less than overlapping consensus: towards a political theory of social consensus: towards a political theory of social compromise compromise Abstract. Political theory often relies on a definite vision of the lack of consensus, which does not necessarily exclude the possibility of some modus vivendi. It turns out however that a mere modus vivendi is widely felt to be insufficient to warrant political stability and a well-ordered society. Starting from distributive-justice issues and problems of ethical conflict in democratic society, it is argued that the middle ground between a mere modus vivendi and full-blown consensus has room for a useful concept of compromise which accounts for basic aspects of the dynamics of political arrangements.Résumé. La théorie politique s'appuie souvent sur une certaine vision de l'absence de consensus, et cela n'exclut pas nécessairement la possibilité d'un modus vivendi. Or, un simple modus vivendi est souvent perçu comme insuffisant pour garantir la stabilité politique et une société bien ordonnée. En partant de questions de justice distributive et de problèmes de conflits éthiques dans les sociétés démocratiques, les auteurs défendent la thèse d'après laquelle l'espace intermédiaire entre un simple modus vivendi et un consensus authentique peut accueillir un concept de compromis rendant compte utilement de certains aspects centraux de la dynamique des arrangements politiques.

In light of the rapid population growth forecast for the coming years and the powerful transformations already occurring throughout its whole territory, today's Switzerland stands in urgent need of critical reflection on its urban future. A novel set of concepts and actions is needed in order to produce new visions and operational tools capable of critically reconsidering mainstream debates about Switzerland's future urban growth. On the one hand, national policies and narratives tend de facto towards lending increasing support to a dynamic of "metropolization," which usually leads to stronger territorial hierarchization strategies and processes aiming at a spatial condensation of urban services and functions in specific, selected locations. On the other hand, however, the Swiss territory-with its deep rootedness in federalism and its unique aggregative structure-still embodies key features of what, at different times, has been named a single "Grande Ville," a "dezentralisierte Großstadt," a "Ville-Territoire" or, more recently, "Stadtland Schweiz." The country as a whole is still characterized by extended and layered conditions of inhabitability, where the dispersion of the urban fabric, enmeshed within the agricultural and forested landscape, is articulated through horizontal rather that vertical relationships. This paper offers a novel reflection on how the ongoing metropolization process could be seen as a positive force if a markedly different idea of metropolitan space is introduced-the "Horizontal Metropolis." Its key idea is to distribute and enlarge the benefits which metropolization, if conducted in line with the tradition of decentralization and horizontality, could bring to the Swiss territory and its population. The "Horizontal Metropolis" concept recovers and leverages the various forms of inhabitability and their relation with the infrastructural support. It considers the long-term construction of the Swiss "City-Territory" as a renewable resource, which means reflecting on new life cycles, capitalizing on the urban and territorial embodied energy, and therefore rethinking, without denying it, Switzerland's extensive and diffused fixed capital. This could be a precious resource to accommodate future urban growth and reorient the form it takes, keeping at bay indiscriminate sprawl as well as its currently predominant ideological counterpart, indiscriminate densification and polarization.