Childhood and family were important issues in the 20th century for public authorities, with various connotations in each country. Yet it is difficult to precisely define the notion of family policy especially from the perspective of an international comparative analysis. Firstly this paper gives an overview of the obstacles to reach a definition of this area of public action. Secondly, it shows, from the French case, how a strategy of genealogical interpretation of family policy can bring about an understanding of the modalities through which national history participates in its progressive definition. Lastly, the role of the European debate in the structuring of these public policies will be discussed.only subscribers can see the full article

Working time has always been considered in France to be an area of responsibility for the State. The Acts on the 35-hour working week come therefore from a long tradition of State intervention to regulate employment and working conditions. This way of ruling working time is not found in other European countries. This pape presents the French specificity: a work sharing logic supported by the State. The aim at generating employment through a legal reduction of working time brought the government to draw up an extremely complex set of Acts. They are not restricted to defining legal work duration; they also reduce social contributions and determine a precise framework to negotiate collective agreements. Most of the evaluations of the consequences of the 35-hour Act show that its effects on employment are limited, that social relations have not improved and that inequalities among employees have worsened. The French way of reforming rests on the belief in the absolute power of public action and in the rationality of the State, and on a mistrust of social forces.only subscribers can see the full article

France is characterized by the introduction of a new Ltc program (the Apa, Allocation Personaliseè a l’Autonomie) since 2002, providing a combination of service and cash to the dependent elderly population. The paper describes the factors leading to this reform and the political process that has characterized its approval and following implementation. In recent years there have been new changes, potentially leading to stronger recognition and public support of private long term care insurance. This turn towards the market will be analytically discussed, showing the political process and the actors that have been involved, and looking at the possible social and institutional impacts of the marketization of long term care.only subscribers can see the full article

The creation and running of a complex system of social protection has a marked effect on social relations in France. How has joint responsibility in these relations been established and developed? How can it be interpreted given that the State has a central role? The original vindication of social democracy has adapted to a new positioning of subordinate work in French society. There are powerful changes at work that are seeking to reconcile security and professional developments.only subscribers can see the full article

The emergence of populisms in Europe in the 1980s reveals a particular socio-political context that is the background of the crisis of modernity. Contemporary democracies manifest problems and contradictions that touch various levels, from the economic to the specifically political. In this scenario various movements and populist parties arise and propagate themselves, with similar characteristics and specific features linked to their national contexts. J.M. Le Pen’s Front National is an emblematic example for its importance, support and duration. It plays on some basic concepts: appeal to the people, both as a means of protest and as a badge of identity, hostility to immigration, fiery nationalism tending to xenophobia, and the celebration of French purity and grandeur. Sarkozy’s Presidency, which is now coming to an end, has used several themes of the populist discourse on the problems of security, immigration and national identity, thus achieving a sort of institutionalization of populism, cleansed of its more extreme and unacceptable features.only subscribers can see the full article