Michel LAROQUE - The Administration of the Welfare State

Pouvoirs n°94 - L’État-providence - septembre 2000 - p.59-73

The administration of the welfare state has been influenced by several factors : the evolution of the balance of forces between social and political groups, the ideological debates of the French revolution about the place of mediating structures, the debate launched by anarcosyndicalism at the beginning of the XXth century, the emergence in the XIXth century of mutual aid societies which delayed the establishment of a system of social insurance, the demand for dignity and security which led to the creation of the welfare system. The French welfare state appeared only in the XXth century and developed its own original form of administration, characterized by a high degreee of territorial or service decentralization, and by the search for a social democracy whose basis is being challenged by the current plans for social renovation launched by the MEDEF. The public social administration – an administration of the poor and a poor administration – is still striving to assert itself at the national, European and international levels. It is therefore necessary to reassert its value if one wants to see the values of solidarity and human dignity prevail over the social precariousness and selfishness bred by financial and economic liberalism. Résumé

Référence électonique : Michel LAROQUE, "The Administration of the Welfare State", Pouvoirs, revue française d’études constitutionnelles et politiques, n°94, 2000, p.59-73. Consulté le 18-02-2012. URL : http://www.revue-pouvoirs.fr/The-Administration-of-the-Welfare.html