Originally published in 1964, this book was an important addition to the growing field of comparative government and administration. This book covers the organisation of the French cabinet, the structure and functions of government departments and of local authorities, the civil service, the police, the judiciary and public enterprise. There are also chapters on economic planning, the administration of social services and of the educational system. The book explains the spirit as well as the mechanism of the French administrative system, the principles that underly it and the wider background against which it is set

Intellectual traditions are commonly regarded as cultural variations, historical legacies, or path dependencies. By analyzing road junctions between different traditions of Public Administration this book contests the dominant perspective of path-dependent national silos, and highlights the ways in which they are hybrid and open to exogenous ideas. Analyzing the hybridity of administrative traditions from an historical perspective, this book provides a new approach to the history of Public Administration as a scientific discipline. Original and interdisciplinary chapters address the question of how scholars from the U.S., Germany and France mutually influenced each other, from the closing years of the 19th Century, up until the neo-liberal turn of the 1970s. Offering a thorough analysis of the transatlantic history of Public Administration, the conclusion argues that it is vital to learn from the past, in order to make Public Administration more realistic in theory, as well as more successful in practice. Advanced undergraduate and postgraduate political science scholars will find this to be a valuable tool in understanding the foundations of transatlantic Public Administration. This book will also greatly benefit researchers on comparative and transnational history with a keen interest in Public Administration.

The Oxford Handbook of French Politics provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of the French political system through the lens of political science. The Handbook is organized into three parts: the first part identifies foundational concepts for the French case, including chapters on republicanism and social welfare; the second part focuses on thematic large-scale processes, such identity, governance, and globalization; while the third part examines a wide range of issues relating to substantive politics and policy, among which are chapters on political representation, political culture, social movements, economic policy, gender policy, and defense and security policy. The volume brings together established and emerging scholars and seeks to examine the French political system from a comparative perspective. The contributors provide a state-of-the-art review both of the comparative scholarly literature and the study of the French case, making The Oxford Handbook of French Politics an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the foundations of contemporary political life in France.

This history of professional women in positions of administrative responsibility illuminates women's changing relationship to the public sphere in France since the Revolution of 1789. Linda L. Clark traces several generations of French women in public administration, examining public policy and politics, attitudes towards gender, and women's work and education. Women's own perceptions and assessments of their positions illustrate changes in gender roles and women's relationship to the state. With seniority-based promotion, maternity leaves and the absence of the marriage bar, the situation of French women administrators invites comparison with their counterparts in other countries. Why has the profile of women's employment in France differed from that in the USA and the UK? This study gives unique insights into French social, political and cultural history, and the history of women during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will interest scholars of European history and also specialists in women's studies.

En pleine congruence avec l’ambition du Groupe Européen pour l’Administration Publique d’encourager les échanges interculturels, ce livre constitue une entreprise originale, mi-anglophone mi-francophone. Cet ouvrage issu du Congrès du GEAP 2010 a pour objet de combler un déplorable fossé et de donner une visibilité internationale au « cas français ». Dès lors ce livre, en 18 chapitres rédigés en français par une équipe interdisciplinaire (politistes, sociologues, historiens, socio-historiens, juristes) avec plus de 150 pages en anglais et une vaste bibliographie unifiée, entend offrir à tous les spécialistes de l’administration publique de par le monde un point d’accès unique au plus récent état des savoirs sur l’administration en France – ce pays où le mot État s’écrit avec un E majuscule. ============================================ In full compliance with the ambition of the European Group for Public Administration to encourage cross-cultural exchanges, this book is a genuinely original undertaking. It is a hybrid Anglophone-Francophone product. This book from EGPA 2010 Conference purpose to bridge a regrettable gap and to give international visibility to the “French case”. Thus, this book, in 18 chapters written in French by an interdisciplinary team (political scientists, sociologists, historians, sociohistorians, jurists) with more than 150 pages in English and a vast unified bibliography, offers to all students of public administration in the world a unique entry gate to the latest state of the art of administrative studies in France – this country where the State is to be spelled with a capital S.