Les acteurs-réseaux redessinent la science. Le régime de politique scientifique révélé par les instruments.

Mutual support between State and Science developed constantly through modernity. In spite of the ambivalent of the citizens towards scientific activities, political support to research has grown in the recent years, even in periods of budgetary constrains, with a strong competitive stance. This is true for most European countries and particularly in Wallonia (the French speaking part of Belgium). This book presents the current patterns of change in the organisation of research and particularly an overview of the new funding schemas proposed by the authorities. The analysis of the mode of governance in the science policy regime is drawn "from below", with a reference to the actors, what they say and what they do when they refer to the public instruments funding their research. The actors considered are not only researchers but also public actors, industry and public servants. In this approach "Science" is not considered as a stable concept, but as a set of institutions, values, norms and practices, which at a given moment of history contribute to delineate what makes science .. and what does not. The hypothesis of the author is that the policy instruments used to fund research tend to modify these values and norms at the same time as they legitimate new practices in the organisation of research.