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"clique concessionaire"

English translation: the clique, the current concessionaire

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:"clique concessionaire"
English translation:the clique, the current concessionaire
Entered by: John Holland

22:51 Apr 7, 2013
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Economics / History of Economics as a university discipline in France
French term or phrase: "clique concessionaire"
Hello,

I'm stuck with how best to translate this phrase in the context of an article regarding the history of economics as a university discipline in France (esp late 19th). Here is the relevant paragraph in full:

(Léon) Walras va être totalement bloqué par cet élément administratif. Mais il ne se décourage pas pour autant, et il va même jusqu'à penser à une refonte totale de l'Université, comme en témoigne son article "de la culture et de l'enseignement des sciences morales et politiques" de 1879. Il pense même que la création de facultés de sciences morales et politiques seraient un moyen efficace pour lutter contre "la clique actuellement concessionnaire de l'exploitation de l'économie politique".
HJT Translation
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:39
the clique, the current concessionaire
Explanation:
A clique in French is essentially the same in the two languages. It is a pejorative term for a small group that works in an exclusive manner:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/clique?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/clique

"Concessionaire" means that a person has an exclusive right to exploit something such as a terrain or a sector of a market:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/concessionnaire?

Thus, I believe that the phrase means that there is a small clique of people who claim to have an elusive right to make use of the political economy (for their own benefit, by implication).

I think a fairly literal translation would be fine here, and that is how a past translator handled the phrase. Please see p. 378 of Studies in the History of French Political Economy: From Bodin to Walras (Edited by Gilbert Faccarello, Routledge, 1998) which can be viewed on-line at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415099390/ :

"Walras [...] fought 'the clique, the current concessionaire of the exploitation of political economy'..."

(Please note that although I did not translate that particular chapter, I did translate several other chapters in this book.)

I'd also like to suggest a less-literal version:
"the in-group that currently monopolizes (monopolises) the political economy"

However, in translation of academic texts, the existing translation is usually to be preferred.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2013-04-08 08:08:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a direct link to the page of the book mentioned above on which the translation appears, on Google Books:

http://books.google.fr/books?id=Edmvxx86JTQC&lpg=PA369&ots=I...
Selected response from:

John Holland
France
Local time: 21:39
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2the clique, the current concessionaire
John Holland
4 +1inner-circle currently monopolising
kashew
4"the coterie / the clique presently given concession to exploit (the teaching of) political economy"
Daryo
5 -1"the gang who holds the right for"
papier


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"la clique actuellement concessionnaire de l'exploitation de l'économie politique".
"the coterie / the clique presently given concession to exploit (the teaching of) political economy"


Explanation:
"la clique actuellement concessionnaire de l'exploitation de l'économie politique".
=
"the coterie / the clique / the clan presently given the concession to exploit (the teaching of) political economy"

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 12
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
the clique, the current concessionaire


Explanation:
A clique in French is essentially the same in the two languages. It is a pejorative term for a small group that works in an exclusive manner:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/clique?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/clique

"Concessionaire" means that a person has an exclusive right to exploit something such as a terrain or a sector of a market:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/concessionnaire?

Thus, I believe that the phrase means that there is a small clique of people who claim to have an elusive right to make use of the political economy (for their own benefit, by implication).

I think a fairly literal translation would be fine here, and that is how a past translator handled the phrase. Please see p. 378 of Studies in the History of French Political Economy: From Bodin to Walras (Edited by Gilbert Faccarello, Routledge, 1998) which can be viewed on-line at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415099390/ :

"Walras [...] fought 'the clique, the current concessionaire of the exploitation of political economy'..."

(Please note that although I did not translate that particular chapter, I did translate several other chapters in this book.)

I'd also like to suggest a less-literal version:
"the in-group that currently monopolizes (monopolises) the political economy"

However, in translation of academic texts, the existing translation is usually to be preferred.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2013-04-08 08:08:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a direct link to the page of the book mentioned above on which the translation appears, on Google Books:

http://books.google.fr/books?id=Edmvxx86JTQC&lpg=PA369&ots=I...

John Holland
France
Local time: 21:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  GILLES MEUNIER
9 hrs
  -> Thank you, GILOU
agree  Daniel Gray
9 hrs
  -> Thank you, Daniel
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
inner-circle currently monopolising


Explanation:
*

kashew
France
Local time: 21:39
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Marco Solinas
3 hrs
  -> Thanks
neutral  Daryo: "inner-circle" sounds too nice for "la clique"
10 hrs
  -> Clique is ok with me - I give an option.
neutral  papier: inner-circle is too nice as said by Daryo and it does not say where it would be located: at the heart of economic policies power.
8 days
  -> Clique is ok with me - I give an option.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
"the gang who holds the right for"


Explanation:

The gang current holding the right for exploring economic policies (for its own benefit, not for the public benefit).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hora (2013-04-07 23:56:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Can also use "gang concessionaire"
http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 dias (2013-04-16 22:51:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Daryo, I am not extrapolating, the author of the French just does not mean what you think he means.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 dias (2013-04-17 00:17:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Still, it is important to notice that that was a period of great corruption scandals at the heart of the French government during the Third Republic, a delicate power assurance process for a new regime. Just after two presidential resignations (Mac Mahon, 1879, and Jules Grévy, after the l'Ordre de la Légion d'honneur scandal, in 1887), a third president, Sadi Carnot, dies in 1894 after being blessed in an anarchist attack amid a strong union and popular movement in the streets going on along with his involvement in the great Panama Channel French funding scandal. Walras was not one of those political leaders supporters at the French government as his background roots in France demonstrates. Also, by that time, he lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, teaching economics and developing his theories at the Local University for twenty years or so.

papier
Brazil
Local time: 16:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: "economic policies" is what a government does // "political economy" is a scientific discipline => "the history of economics as a university discipline in France"// I think you're extrapolating too much - theory and practice don't always agree.
1 hr
  -> Daryo, we all know that. The meaning of the sentence is exactly the one I wrote. The fight is against the current economic policies (same group of interest in power at both: the government and the teaching of economics related matters in the academy)
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