Contenu du sommaire : L'administration du développement.

Remarks on the “research” function in organizations. Administrative science appears as the dogmatic reproduction of the denunciation of bureaucracy. Never would there be any science worthy of its name in the case of French centralism, were not the so much claimed objectivity and candidness of researchers subjected to an effort of analysis. Seeing that sociological studies are nowadays so heavily integrated into the bureaucratic apparatus, one is roaming about in a maze. But hopefully, researchers will soon realize the usefulness of departitioning research. The mythical party of industrial institutions establishes a status of communication. That is why studies on the key problem, i.e. the dogmatic issue, are inevitable.

The associative phenomenon. The associative phenomenon, an ancient tradition in France, but which has considerably progressed over the past twenty years, is analyzed to its full scope, which is considerable since there are several hundred of thousands of registered associations in France. These associations deal with the greatest possible variety of objects, public or private, social, cultural or political ; they fulfil three main functions viz. selection, structuring, and expression of needs, circulation of information, and finally promotion of some particularly motivated citizens by which they implement a genuine democratic approach. Having thus delineated the complex of issues, the author analyses in detail the interrelations that exist between these multiple associations and administrations which evermore tend to mix and overlap in terms of goals and attitudes.

Working time arrangements in the public services. The improvement of living and working conditions of civil servants is particularly linked up with two working time arrangements : part-time work and flexible working hours. These two arrangements, which have been investigated in 1975 and 1977 by the Central Committee on Cost and Performance of Public Services, are analyzed successively by the authors. The part-time situation in the civil service is compared with similar arrangements in the private sector and the reasons why this System has never really worked so far in the administrative services are specially underlined. Finally the advantages and drawbacks of flexible working hours are examined to sort out the rules which should govern the proper functioning of this new opportunity offered to the public sector staff.

Effects of the energy crisis on the french administration : the case of the energy administration. The efforts undertaken by the public authorities to parry the main effects of the oil crisis and limit the energy dependence of France have been pursued on two levels : first develop an energy saving policy ; second promote oil replacement energies. Three avenues have been explored in respect of the energy savings policy : fighting wastage ; implementation of energy saving or energy recovering techniques ; and encouraging new techniques. As regards new energies, policies adopted have aimed at encouraging their breakthrough by financing part of their excess cost, the main obstacle to their actual utilization. These policies have been institutionalized through the Agency for Energy Savings, New Energies Delegation and the Solar Energy Directorate. This reaction of the French Energy Administration towards the emergence of a new economic order has raised several problems since what was involved concerned not so much an adjustment to a gradually changing situation, ail aspects of which were under control, but a confrontation with an unforeseen event with the following results : the need for quick action, the lack of any preset model, and no possibility to examine the implications of decisions taken.

Collective agreements and the statutes of the civil service in Canada and Quebec. Canadian federal law and the legislation of Quebec in matters of public administration regard collective work agreements as a main source for the status of civil servants. However the situation does not bear out the fact that civil servants have a legal status which is identical to that of the private salary and wage earners. Indeed, the staff of the Canadian and the Quebec administrations are subjected to rules which are different from those generally applicable and are put in a statutory position. However this status which partly results from laws and regulations (i.e. unilateral acts of the State), is also based on collective agreements which now are counted among the origins of the law of civil servants in Canada and Quebec. Mr. Auby's paper outlines the main elements of the System to illustrate its originality, but the system's implementation is too recent to allow a proper overview of its efficiency.

Aspects of the finnish administration. After a short historical introduction (before and after independence), the author describes the organization of central administration and decentralized units and presents some services : Finance, Education, National Defense. Reforms are under way or in the blueprint : they concern the administration of justice, deconcentration of some services, democratization of administrative life, departmental autonomy.

Local government and the party system in Egypt. After indicating that the 1952 Revolution restored the centralized State and a concentration of powers, the author States that the new rulers of Egypt can but rely on the former State apparatus when it comes to transforming society — social laws, land reforms, planning, social measures. That is why the history of local government is equivalent to a permanent clash with the one party System. Set up in 1960, the System subordinates local government to the national Union and, thereafter, to the Arabic Socialist Union, for the political power attempts to control the executive power at ail levels. But the System, which is blocked by the omnipresence of the party and overlapping competencies among administrative bodies, has given rise to a “new class” in a context of bureaucracy and of “State capitalism”. And the structural reform of governorates in 1971, following the party reform of 1968, has but contributed to strengthening administration since “local parliamentarism” does not work in favour of The Party. After the “economic opening”, the “new class” looked after its consecration by the 1975 reform of local administration. Presented as a new step to democratization in Egypt, — local councils are elected through direct universal suffrage — this important reform mainly translates into reality, according to the author, the waning of The Party, the acknowledgement of local governments economic and social role, the predominance of the governor, and finally, the victory of local government over the Party.