Contenu du sommaire : Regards d'outre-Manche sur l'administration française - Hommage à Vincent Wright

The Ambivalent Jacobin : Vincent Wright as a Political Historian of Modem France ; The works of Vincent Wright on 19lh century France deal with very many subjects, but a common thread is identifiable : the attention given to political and administrative power, the places in which it is exercised and the institutions, individuals and groups who hold it. Profoundly Jacobin, Vincent Wright was nevertheless a bom sceptic who knew how to assess the limits of central State power and the importance of local level activity in French political life, just as he knew how to move away from theoretical frameworks in order to pursue individual trajectories leading in opposite directions.

The École Nationale d'Administration from 1848-1949 : a Revealing Failure ; Created by a decree in Mardi 1848, the ENA was disbanded after the victory of the right in August 1949. The very strong opposition to its existence had three sources : academie, political and administrative. The hostility of these groups not only related to the existence of opposing interests but also to tactical errors committed by the founders of the School who acted precipitously.

Politics and Administration under the French Fifth Republic ; Accusations of political meddling made against the administration in the Fifth Republic merit deeper reflection upon the relationship between politics and the administration. They would appear to be over simplifications, which do not take account of the much more complex realities of the French political and administrative System. The force of tradition, the importance of what is not said, the extreme extent to which relationships are personalised are among the characteristics which make it impossible to attempt to create a model of the System.

The Administrative State : Myth and Reality ; To strengthen the administration while at the same time assuring its subordination : these were the objectives of the founders of the Fifth Republic. The resuit has many nuances. There hâve been numerous reforms but these hâve lacked cohérence. The réduction of the power of the administration is the resuit particularly of internal divisions and reflects its extremely diverse component parts. Controls over its activities hâve been stepped up and, naturally, the more the administration intervenes the more it exposes itself to extemal pressure groups with which it enjoys co-operative, if not dépendent, relationships.

The Fifth Republic : From the Droit de l'État to the État de droit ? ; In 1958 the French legal System was the direct inheritor of a long tradition with its roots in the Ancien régime and which was characterised by a natural distrust of judicial authority. The Fifth Republic has been marked by a ‘judicialisation' of public acts through the increased autonomy of French and European judicial authorities and through the advent of a control over the constitutionality of législation. This increase in the power and the rôle of the judiciary in public life is due to a great number of factors — démocratie, économie, social and political. Notably the judge plays the rôle of referee at the heart of political power and suppléments démocratie control mechanisms with regard to numerous affairs.

Questions from an English Jacobin to French Regionalists ; Regionalisation does not seem to be the System best able to respond to the needs identified by regionalists themselves. According to regionalists, decentralisation should increase administrative efficiency, create a more rational and more just framework for economie action and be more democratie. Analyses show, however, that a centralised State is often more apt at responding to these requirements.

Letters to an American Friend : the Ten Paradoxes of the French Administration ; The enumeration of a number of paradoxes with regard to the administration in France offers a living panorama of its reality. Thus, while it présents itself as unified and indivisible, the Republic is a site of confrontation between diverging interests ; while acknowledging that there is a problem of co-ordination, govemments do not cease to make it worse ; the dogma of the ‘general interest' is smashed to pièces by practices which are known to exist by everyone and are tolerated ; while relatively non-unionised in general, the country has a public sector in which trade unions play a determining rôle ; admired abroad, the French administration is criticised ferociously in its own country... These paradoxes help to form an assessment of an administration which is not only an institution watching over public policy, but is in itself an arena for the activities of a large part of the political, financial and industrial elite of the country.

The National Co-ordination of European Policy-making Negociating the Quagmire ; The co-ordination of European policy poses major problems for member States. The need for constant decision-making, conflicts between sectorial interests, the web of power networks and interests, agenda changes, the fluctuation of members, the overlap of legislative and executive powers and indecisive procedures are among the variables which State administrations are badly prepared to manage. Two levels of co-ordination exist — national and community. At the national level Systems of co-ordination vary enormously from one country to another. At the community level, co-ordination is carried out for ail countries by permanent représentatives. But internai conflicts are reflected at European level.