  We investigate the covariant formulation of Chern-Simons theories in a
general odd dimension which can be obtained by introducing a vacuum connection
field as a reference. Field equations, Noether currents and superpotentials are
computed so that results are easily compared with the well-known results in
dimension 3. Finally we use this covariant formulation of Chern-Simons theories
to investigate their relation with topological BF theories.
