51

Access to political functions has been studied extensively through territorial categories of representatives. This article proposes to shift the focus by analyzing the way in which are selected elected officials exercising functions in a particular policy area, the management of rivers and aquatic environments. After having shown what this additional stage of political selection for access to specialized bodies owes to the classical political and sociological variables, we analyze the effects of the multifaceted relationship of elected representatives to water, before discussing the very concrete modalities of their co-optation and their election within these bodies. The sectoral approach makes it possible to study eligibility in a different light and to add some complements to the dominant territorial approach.