Four Recent developments within French policy studies
-
Jacques de Maillard
Abstract
Since the early 1990s, three issues have progressively become sustained objects of debates within French policy analysis: the causal role of ideas within public action; the relationship between institutions and actors; and how studying public policies reveals both the state and politics. Indeed, this progression mirrors the way specialists based in France have engaged in international debates over the last three decades. If, in the 1990s, this field of study was essentially autonomous from extra-national developments, by contrast the following decade was marked by wholesale importation of approaches initiated elsewhere. Since the end of the 2000s, however, greater cross-fertilization between endogenous and exogenous perspectives has emerged, alongside a greater willingness to participate assertively and cumulatively in international scientific fora.
Abstract
Since the early 1990s, three issues have progressively become sustained objects of debates within French policy analysis: the causal role of ideas within public action; the relationship between institutions and actors; and how studying public policies reveals both the state and politics. Indeed, this progression mirrors the way specialists based in France have engaged in international debates over the last three decades. If, in the 1990s, this field of study was essentially autonomous from extra-national developments, by contrast the following decade was marked by wholesale importation of approaches initiated elsewhere. Since the end of the 2000s, however, greater cross-fertilization between endogenous and exogenous perspectives has emerged, alongside a greater willingness to participate assertively and cumulatively in international scientific fora.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Editors’ introduction to the series xiii
- Policy analysis in France: introduction 1
-
The styles and methods of public policy analysis
- On the path to public policy analysis: an ‘administrative science’ between reform and academy 31
- The emergence of modern policy analysis in France 47
- Recent developments within French policy studies 63
- Methods of French policy studies 79
-
Policy analysis by governments
- Civil servants and policy analysis in central government 101
- Policy analysis in French local government 119
- Beyond weakness: policy analysis in the French parliament 137
-
Committees, public inquiries, and consultants
- Public inquiries, committees 157
- Management consultants as policy actors 175
-
Parties, interest groups, research institutes and think tanks
- The field of state expertise 191
- Political parties and think tanks: policy analysis oriented toward office-seeking 209
- Economic interest groups and policy analysis in France 225
- NGOs, civil society and policy analysis: from mutual disinterest to reciprocal investment 243
- Trade union expertise in public policy 261
-
Academic policy analysis
- Economics and policy analysis: ‘from state to market’? 279
- The academic world of French policy studies: training, teaching and researching 295
- Public policy analysis in France: from public action to political power 313
- Index 333
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Editors’ introduction to the series xiii
- Policy analysis in France: introduction 1
-
The styles and methods of public policy analysis
- On the path to public policy analysis: an ‘administrative science’ between reform and academy 31
- The emergence of modern policy analysis in France 47
- Recent developments within French policy studies 63
- Methods of French policy studies 79
-
Policy analysis by governments
- Civil servants and policy analysis in central government 101
- Policy analysis in French local government 119
- Beyond weakness: policy analysis in the French parliament 137
-
Committees, public inquiries, and consultants
- Public inquiries, committees 157
- Management consultants as policy actors 175
-
Parties, interest groups, research institutes and think tanks
- The field of state expertise 191
- Political parties and think tanks: policy analysis oriented toward office-seeking 209
- Economic interest groups and policy analysis in France 225
- NGOs, civil society and policy analysis: from mutual disinterest to reciprocal investment 243
- Trade union expertise in public policy 261
-
Academic policy analysis
- Economics and policy analysis: ‘from state to market’? 279
- The academic world of French policy studies: training, teaching and researching 295
- Public policy analysis in France: from public action to political power 313
- Index 333
