Contenu du sommaire : Le service public en crise. (1) Questions en débat

Modernization of public services. An attempt to constitute the subject matter In sociology, the theme of the "renewal of public service" has been mobilizing several currents of study. Thus some researchers adopt the sociology of administrative work viewpoint. Others rather deal with the field of the sociology of bureaucratic organizations. Some others give greater importance to the analysis of Government public programmes. As far as we are concerned, beyond the advantages and limits of these different approaches, we would rather insist upon the intrinsically political nature of public services, which argues for an authentic political sociology. Such problematic lead us to consider the modernization of public services as one of the contemporaneous components of the multisecular process of rationalization in the management of human problems. In particular, several empirical studies show that there exists today a disjunction between the "public service" linked to the State and "general interest" as taken in charge by the entirely of public communities in the political system.

The sources of the french notion of public service. The question of crisis which surrounds the notion of the public service sector cannot be considered without first considering the sources of this legal entity. Prior to the development of the modern state its roots are be found in relatively ancient ground, especially in Antiquity and in feudal society. To rediscover the origins is in a sense, to rediscover the public services.

The foundation and the limits of the notion of public service in the cultural sector Many cultural organizations belong to the public sector in France in accordance with the idea of the role of culture for the citizens' education. But the development of a crisis of public financing and of the belief in the superiority of the market led to a reduction of this intervention at the end of the eighties. The analysis of this transformation reveals contradictions and deadlocks that weaken the efficiency of the institutions.

Crisis as an identifying element in the public sector ofthefrench audio-visual service In France for several decades the normal situation in the audio-visual public sector -particularly in the case of television -seems to be a state of crisis. The crisis follow one and other like so many factors of readjustment against a backdrop of the growing relativization of the idea of public service, today in fact abandoned in favour of the more neutral term, public sector. From now on the legal economic and political insecurity characteristic of this sector do not allow it to bail itself out of these crisis situations.

Universal service versus public service in the context of the European Union. The notion of universal service raises questions of the associated economic bases and its eventual incompatibility with the notion of the french "service public". The paper commences by examining the history of the universal service notion (in the United States and within the European Union) and underlines the totally different conditions which surrounded its definition. The eventual divergence between universal service and service public is then examined. The second part of the paper is interested on the possible evolution of the universal service obligation in telecommunications. Elements of economic theory allowing us to justify such an enlargement are finally proposed.

The idea of universal service and regional cohesion within the European Union In this study, we focus our attention on the role of universal service in regional cohesion from the user perspective. Following the Bangemann Report on Information Society (IS), we analyse the opportunities offered by the IS. We consider if the pre-requisites are present in the less developed areas of the European Union, and especially if they might be set in place by the process of liberalisation of the european telecommunication market. Finally, in the light of the EC's Action Program, it is worth examining if the proposed scope of the universal service obligation covers any shortfalls, and if not, what can be done without imposing new burdens on market players. In this respect diversity of objectives suggests that it might be appropriate to rely on a range of different policy instruments, notably on structural funds. It is therefore necessary to define a clear regulatory framework that sets out the "rules" valid for all operators without any discrimination.

Universal service in european telecommunications. A neo-institutional approach The introduction of universal service in the european regulations for services of general interest ordain that there should be a strict separation between the organization of supplies and the political justification. In the field of telecommunications the neo-institutional comparative approach allows us nevertheless to show, from american and french experiences (public service model), that the European Union desire to harmonize the different national practices risks to prove ineffectual. Above all, this analysis can help to justify the french public service model.

Constructivist epistemologies. A new beginning. 3) Auto-eco-re-organization of constructivist epistemologies. If it appears that the paradigm founding the positivist and realist epistemologies and their gnoseological and methodological basis are cultural conventions and not absolute and certain beliefs, can we ignore the paradoxical problem of «a knowledge without foundations » (Morin) ? We can understand the intelligible cognitive loop of construction-and-translation of knowledge self generated by purposeful human action as a complex process of "auto-eco-re-organization". The paradigm of constructivist epistemologies can be today developed and presented by its two gnoseological hypothesis (phenomenology and teleology) and its two methodological principles (systemic modelling and dialectical reasoning) : on this basis, it proposes an interpretation of the system of sciences (seen as an emerging volcanic island more than as the "tree of knowledge") ; system of sciences which leads to the legitimation of inter and trans-disciplines.