Protection or Threat? The Political Construction of Dyke Raising in France, the Netherlands and the United-States

In the 1990s, public policies of flood risk prevention in France have changed in nature. Construction of protective infrastructure that prevailed since the nineteenth century was challenged. The flood was then on characterized as inevitable phenomenon in town that was beneficial in rural areas. Criticisms raised against the natural disasters guarantee system adopted in the 1980s. This paper replaces this evolution in a broader context by comparing the French model to the United States and the Netherlands, where corps of engineers have played an important role. We show how these national policies have built territories both privileged and very dependent on the state. We trace the influence of environmental movements in the production of new models at the international level. The French evolution can thus be understood as both an endogenous dynamic and the result of international policy diffusion.