  The role played by Deligne-Beilinson cohomology in establishing the relation
between Chern-Simons theory and link invariants in dimensions higher than three
is investigated. Deligne-Beilinson cohomology classes provide a natural abelian
Chern-Simons action, non trivial only in dimensions $4l+3$, whose parameter $k$
is quantized. The generalized Wilson $(2l+1)$-loops are observables of the
theory and their charges are quantized. The Chern-Simons action is then used to
compute invariants for links of $(2l+1)$-loops, first on closed
$(4l+3)$-manifolds through a novel geometric computation, then on
$\mathbb{R}^{4l+3}$ through an unconventional field theoretic computation.
