Contenu du sommaire : Administrer la IVe République

Administrer la IVe République

• Introduction — Administrateurs et administrations sous la IVe République. Une histoire politique - MM. Marc Olivier BARUCH, Directeur d'études à l'EHESS, Vincent DUCLERT, Professeur agrégé à l'EHESS p. 501
  Administrators and Administrations of the Fourth Republic. A Political History. Studies of the Fourth Republic, usually critiques of a teleological nature, tend to caricature and thus prevent a true understanding of this key period. A political history of the administration of the Fourth Republic would on the contrary make it possible to show how civil servants, faced with the blockage of institutions, contributed to the modernisation of France. Such an overall history would have to concern itself with the practises of the state designed as an administrative system, and thus with the main players, the strategies they develop, the areas they focus on, and the resources they mobilise. This approach might also bring to light some of the unexpected factors that modernisation encountered from the start.
• L'administration de la IVe République vue de la direction du budget : un témoignage (entretien) - M.Pierre CORTESSE, Conseiller-maître honoraire à la Cour des comptes p. 521
  The Administration of the Fourth Republic seen from the Budget Directorate. Pierre Cortesse's experience in higher administration, particularly in the budget directorate, sheds light on the “inside” of the administrative system of the Fourth Republic. It gives insight not only into the different facets of the directorate's functioning and its functionaries'ways of thinking, but also into the budget directorate's role in establishing institutions for the modernisation of the economy (such as the Plan or the SEEF) and budgetary procedures. In so doing, it gives us a better idea of the impact of the Fourth Republic's administration on later administrative procedures. It also points to the tendency to forget history – a traditional weak point in administrative action.
• Les grèves de fonctionnaires sous la IVe République - Mme Jeanne SIWEK-POUYDESSEAU, Directrice de recherche honoraire au CNRS, CERSA p. 533
  Civil Servant Strikes during the Fourth Republic. The question of civil servants'salaries was a particularly important issue at the time of the Liberation, given the erosion of purchasing power and the reclassification of the various categories of civil servants in a single grade-linked grid. Although at first most strikes were staged within single categories, it soon became apparent that common actions would be necessary. However, learning to go on strike turned out to be a difficult process : multi-category strikes were considerably weakened by refusals on the part of the unions, in particular FO and the CGT, to cooperate with each other. Thus, the Fourth Republic was a time of only piecemeal and inefficient strikes.
• La « première » École nationale d'administration - M. Jean-François KESLER, Ancien directeur adjoint de l'ENA p. 543
  The « first » École nationale d'administration. ENA was born with the Liberation. Founded on a critique of the former regime, its aim was to unify the recruitment of the state's high civil servants, to make it more democratic, and to renew the training program. From 1946 to 1958 ENA underwent no fundamental changes, thanks to a stable team of directors ; during that period the humanistic spirit of the Liberation prevailed, along with a profile of broad, general knowledge. Nonetheless, due to factors outside the school — the popularity of communism in particular — changes were soon to appear. Other recurrent problems also emerged, among them the difficulty of conciliating ranking with training.
• Les préfets entre 1947 et 1958 ou les limites de la République administrative - M.Luc ROUBAN, Directeur de recherche au CNRS, CEVIPOF-Sciences Po p. 551
  Prefects between 1947 and 1958 : the Limits of the Administrative Republic. Although the prefectural establishment seemed to gain power during the Fourth Republic, a sociological approach shows this to be only in appearance. In fact, two changes took place. First, the model linked to the Third Republic of the prefect as a “notable”, disappeared : prefects came mainly from the middle classes and as a result the prefectural body didn't have the social profile of the state's “grands corps”. Secondly, the corporatising of the prefectural establishment was not a success. Although it was better organised, it could not be a symbol of administrative power when faced with weak or unstable governments. Thus, so far as the prefecture is concerned, the Fourth Republic was not the continuation of the Third, and did not make it possible for administrative power to make up for deficiencies in political power.
• Le personnel du ministère des finances sous la IVe République — Le cas des contrôleurs des dépenses engagées - M. Sébastien KOTT, Maître de conférences à l'Université Paris X-Nanterre p. 565
  The Personnel of the Finance Ministry during the Fourth Republic The Case of the Controllers of Expenditure Commitments. With the decree of 23 January 1956, Controllers of Expenditure Commitments, whose functions had been clearly established since 1922, became Financial Controllers. In fact, this seemingly banal name change reflected a speeding up in the modernisation both of public finances and of the administration as a whole during the 50s. The change in title and the establishment of a “corps” of financial controllers put emphasis on the functions of analysis, advice and specialised knowlege, in contrast with the previous concept of control in terms of law and accounting.
• Des secrétaires généraux, des maires et une tutelle en terre politique - M. Emmanuel BELLANGER, ATER à l'Université Paris VIII p. 577
  Secretaries-General, Mayors, and Administrative Supervision on Political Territory. The study, in Parisian suburbs, of the function of secrétaire de mairie (in charge of all administrative services), an intermediary between the high-ranking official of the sub-directorate of the prefecture's communes, the local elected representative and the citizen, shows the continuing depoliticisation of the administrative functioning of communes during the Fourth Republic. Despite various political turbulences of the period, the ways of recruiting secrétaires de mairies became stabilised, with more and more emphasis on professionalisation, guaranteed by the prefecture's supervision. The continuation of this professionalisation trend contributed to the rising political and technical legitimacy shared by mayors and secretaries-general.
• Les désillusions réformatrices - Le thème de la réforme municipale dans la France de l'après-Seconde Guerre mondiale - M. Renaud PAYRE, Maître de conférences à l'Institut d'études politiques de Lyon p. 593
  Disillusion and Reform — Municipal Reform in post-World War II France. The establishment in 1945 of the Council of Departmental and Communal Public Services reflects a redefinition of the role of the Home Secretary vis-à-vis the local authorities. In a larger sense, it illustrates a transformation in the method of regulating state action and decision, in the sense that decision-making passes from elected representatives to high level officials. Although this was not a sudden change but occurred over time, it heralded the modernising experiments of the first years of the Gaullist Republic, in particular the determination to propose a complete overhaul of communal organisation by doing away with groupings of elected representatives.
• La brousse coloniale ou l'anti-bureau - M. Jean-Charles FREDENUCCI, Doctorant de l'Institut d'urbanisme de Lyon (Lyon II) p. 603
  The Colonial Bush and the “anti-office”. The social history of city planning in the 60s and early 70s shows the important role played by high-ranking officials in the colonial administration of French black African territories. On return, these administrators of French overseas territories and colonial civil engineers were appointed to newly created peripheral structures, called “mission” bodies, in charge of designing and implementing the modernisation of national structures. These agents'careers seem to suggest that the experience of the colonial bush is part of a professional mission or “action” culture, considered “anti-office”, and characterised by a refusal of the traditional forms of administrative action.

• Etude

  • Renouveler l'encadrement pour transformer l'organisation ? Une recette mise à l'épreuve dans le contexte municipal - Mme Céline DESMARAIS, Maître de conférences à l'Université de Savoie (IREGE) p. 617
    Does a Renewal of Head Administrators modify the Organizational Patterns of an Administration ? Testing it out on the Municipal Level. In state policy, rejuvenating an administration is often thought to be a way of renewing it. However, in the context of municipalities, it does not have the expected effects : on one hand, young administrators do not necessarily change their behaviour or implement new ways of management any better than their elders do; secondly, although level of studies and professional background do contribute to changes in roles, such changes occur primarily through a complex interplay of relations, in which status and position within the organisation play a crucial role.

• Chroniques

  • Chronique de l'administration - Francis CHAUVIN, Bénédicte DELAUNAY, Carine MOREAU-SOULAY et Hervé RIHAL p. 633
  • Chronique du secteur public économique - André G. DELION et Michel DURUPTY p. 655

• INFORMATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES

  - coordonnées par Sandra DÉTRIE-LAVROFF p. 671