Contenu du sommaire

European Prefects : the role of Commission Delegations in ACP Countries (1964-2004). An analysis of the role and status of the European Commission delegations in ACP countries shows that following on the first enlargement, there has been a trend towards the institutionalisation and gradual bureaucratisation of the DGVIII. Thus, the present reforms of the common external missions may appear to be the outcome of this process.

New European Regional Policy : Mechanisms, Actors, and Objectives of a Complex Reform. The European Commission has just presented its third report on economic and social cohesion. In an effort to ensure the harmonious development of the Union as a whole, it argues for a policy of reduction of disparities. According to the report, enlargement has completely upset the former balance between rich and poor regions and it is now necessary to redefine the objectives of the “integration through development” policy. Besides budgetary concerns, the Commission has directed its efforts towards finding a new model of European regional policy based on creating partnerships with all participating actors, regional bodies in particular. The article describes such a model, showing the experimental, and in the end, exemplary nature of the Commission's procedure.

The “unthought” of Municipal Reform The Creation of Conurbation Councils. The rapid increase of conurbation councils reveals a certain number of shortcomings in inter-communal reform. The Chevènement Act, to a great extent responsible for this increase, is mainly based on financial and fiscal mechanisms ; it does not include the administrative aspect of local institutions, for whose destabilisation it is partially responsible. Faced with this destabilisation, managerial procedures have been put in place and relations with the political authorities have been reinforced. Under these conditions, the inter-communal issue is more a matter of practical action than of administration, which was not the concern Chevènement reform.

The Regulatory State. The “regulatory state” is at one and the same time a principle of social cohesion, the keystone of social development, an arbitrator in the economic game, and the expression of a newstate model.The figure of the regulatory statereactivatesthefounding principle at the heart of the institution of the state.Although it implies a redefinition of the role of the state, in no way does it means a return to the liberal state of the past : the regulatory state remains the socially active state it became with the building of the Welfare state. And although the economy remains its primary area of action, the rationale of regulation transforms in depth the architecture of the state, working its way into traditional modes of organisation and action.

The Growth of Agencies in Britain and France : EduFrance-Transferred from Britain or indigenous Creation ? Does the creation of an instrument of public policy with the identical name and structure it had in another country constitute a transfer of public policy ? Similarity of label and format may mask a multitude of differences between apparently identical institutional forms. In both British and French administration, agencies have more and more clearly become a major tool of public policy. Their development has often been attributed to the international diffusion of New Public Management methods. Nonetheless, as this study reveals, a comparison between two agencies, EduFrance (France) and Educating Counselling Service (GB), shows that the proliferation of these instruments is not necessarily indicative of international policy convergence.

Modernisation in Transition — The Case of Aéroports de Parisbetween 1979-1991. The author gives a sociological analysis of the power relationships behind the evolution andstructuraltransformationofthe AéroportsdeParis (ADP).Createdin 1945 in the context of post-war reconstruction, the company was first dominated by technical imperatives linked to construction. It gradually integrated a management point of view more concerned with commercial development and client service, transporters and passengers alike. In that sense, ADP is a clear example of the slow mutation of a state enterprise obliged to adapt its vocation as a public service to the necessities of regulated liberalism.

A Public Policy : Mental Health (1970-2002). Mental health policy has evolved considerably over the last half century. Following the abandonment of the asylum system, its scope broadened during the 1990s to include suffering of an existential nature and diverse population categories. It gradually integrated management methods proper to hospital policy and in 2000, a global reorganisation of thesystembroughtinaprocessof“governability” (contracts,networks, eventual regionalisation), which would encourage the participation of diverse actors. This recomposition was guided by the aim expressed both by WHO and the European Commission of making ethics and responsibilisation a priority for both patient and medical staff.Italsoreflectsthefactthatpublicaction isincreasinglyopen tocontracting and negotiation, thus providing an improved social environment for the patient.

An Underestimated Aspect of Administrative Management : the Regularisation of Illegal Administrative Acts and Procedures. What should be done about illegal administrative acts which seem basically justified or that can be corrected or regularised ? For the French administrative judge, the traditional response to this question is to state the illegality and invalidate the irregular act. There exist however, a number of correctives — diverse hypotheses under which certain flaws will not be taken into account. In addition, these hypotheses have been broadened by recent and widely remarked rulings of jurisprudence. A complement to annulment thus seems necessary in the context of a more and more complex and demanding administrative law : it would entail an efficient procedure making it possible to “mend” an act with valid content but which is partially defective.

Who is interested in a Civil Service Career and why ? First Results of Surveys on Candidates for Various Competitive Examinations. An analytical view of the characteristics of candidates for the administration's competitive examinations shows that as concerns the minimum degree required, candidates are over-qualified. Thus, candidates seem to take for granted that a higher educational level is necessary in order to succeed in administrative examinations. The analysis also reveals the diversity of professional itineraries and motivations of candidates.