French draft bill on research: Statement by the APAD bureau and the editorial board of its journal Anthropologie & développement

As an international association bringing together researchers from the "North" and the "South", the Association for Anthropology of Social Change and Development (APAD) is particularly concerned with the proposed reform of the university sector in France, the Loi de programmation pluriannuelle de la recherche (LLPR).

Research conducted by APAD members on public policies in countries subjected to Structural Adjustment or neoliberal reforms, attests to the disastrous consequences of the race for funding, the systematic casualisation of contracts and generalised competition. These effects particularly affect the quality of teaching and research conducted in institutions in the South.

In France, while higher education and research have for many years now been confronted with budgetary restrictions affecting their staff and working conditions, aspects of the proposed LPPR push even further inegalitarian and managerial logics that already undermines the principles of free and independent research and a University open to all.

We, therefore, collectively denounce the principles underpinning the proposed reform in solidarity with our French colleagues and we call for a sound reform, strengthening independent and quality public research, respectful of the work of all.

Please find here information on the mobilisation of academic journals and the reasons of it:

And here the list of journals contesting the reform (122 today) and their statements: