How has the political economy of French capitalism evolved in the face of increasing global economic pressures?

Résumé du document

‘The work was standardized, rigid; it has become adaptable, flexible. The institutions were paternalist, authoritarian; they have become permissive, liberal. A feeling of security reigned on the world. It is now the insecurity which is dominant' (Cohen, 2002)

This international economic change has disrupted the French Social model but has it signaled its irremediable end? It is the serious concern that we will try to clarify and to develop. The first significant point is the definition of the singular economic French model.

In the beginning of the second part of the twentieth century, the French state played a significant role in the domestic economy through the duty of reconstruction and modernization which imposed to France. As an investor, a manager, an undertaken the state fostered up the economic growth. The French model took its grassroots on the ideal of the Social Democracy, providing France with far-spreading social security system.

Does this strong state presence enable France to promote the implementation of a favorable environment for an opened economy or in contrast does it establish barriers and restrictions against the growing international competition? Until the seventies, the French Model seemed to succeed, combining a high growth rate and human progresses. The state achieved to benefit from the first steps of its adhesion to the free trade.

Extraits

[...] The car industry, as regarding Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, and the agricultural sector were not nationalized but they were the major payees of the state subsidies. The fact that the state became the boss of some firms symbolizes a respond to the threat of some French people vis-à-vis private directors, who, for them, seek the profit at all costs. And, this popular feeling has been in part maintained (Milza & Bernstein p100). This interventionism enables the state to assist its domestic economy against the backdrop of the international competition. [...]

[...] We can compare the French economic moves with the evolvement of Social Democracy, which has enforced new methods face to the growing competition but in maintaining its main objectives. The implementation of a ‘social liberalism' has notably appeared in numerous European countries which have reached a low level of unemployment and high growth rate. It is the ‘third voice' which is so-called the ‘social-liberalism' or the capitalism à visage humain (Rocard p41). This société bloquée have to give up with the idea that change is obviously lived as a pain' and understand that an economic model is never an absolute one (Hancké p333). [...]

[...] How may we evaluate the pertinence and the efficiency of French governments' legislative and regulatory choices vis-à- vis these new challenges? In spite of deregulation and privatization trends, France has kept some characteristics of its former social model. Is it a feature of resistance or resignation? Without deny its values, is it possible to create a ‘social liberalism' which would be the pragmatic synthesis between the social democracy and the acceptance of the capitalism? I The implementation of the ‘French social model', so-called ‘economic dirigisme' or ‘mix-economy', occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War and lived its golden age during the trente glorieuses The establishment of a Welfare State in order to square up with social inequalities and promote social justice After the least prestigious moment of its history[2], France whished to find again it's proud and to relive prosperous years. [...]

[...] French people have complained about precariousness in which they lived with a fragile work situation. Only, the most graduated people have got stable work. In addition, the civil servants had a superior increase of their purchase power and a pension system more advantageous than the one for the private sector, whereas they had not to support the instability triggering by the international competition (Baverez p72-73). This trend has aroused a resurgence of social tensions in France (Maurin p22-23). This transitional period with the anxieties of citizens, alludes to Karl Polyani's capitalist transitional movement. [...]

[...] II- After the beginning of the seventies, the growing international trade and the economic external crisis have emphasized the defects and shortages of the French Social Model, impelling the French economy to be more deregulated and privatized In the aftermath of shy resistances against the growing international trade pressures, the French liberal turning point of the eighties has signed the end of some features of its former Social Model France realized that it was prey to the international upheavals in the context of the crisis of 1973[3] and international trade shifts. The inflation and the French deficits became more and worse as the coin of Keynesian policies in an opened economy. [...]