The Road to Anomie
Résumé
This article attempts to demonstrate that public service industrial
relations in France are closely linked to a historical model that has its
roots in the construction of the Republican system as early as 1880.
The historical resilience of this model distinguishes it sharply from the
one developed in the private sector which is much more related to the
defence of the industrial working class. Public service unions emerged
as a Left political force in the 1920s and still retain this function in the
twenty-first century. Since 1946, civil service unions have developed
a representation role of a political nature that challenges the political
class. This article argues that the specificity of public service industrial
relations is connected in France with a political conception of the
employment relationship in the civil service. Therefore, new public
management has failed to take root. However, unions are facing a
serious crisis because they cannot curb the austerity policies pursued
by both Right and Left governments. They have been forced to adopt
a defensive strategy while civil servants are turning increasingly to
the Far Right.