A public policy designed and run by a private entrepreneur. Tensions between public health and private interest in the battle against obesity in France

Henri Bergeron (1) , Patrick Castel (1) , Etienne Nouguez (1) , Amy Jacob

1 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)

By studying the case of obesity prevention, this paper aims to shed light on the reorganization of public health policies in France. This analysis of mechanisms by which a private operator establishes itself as a legitimate and leading actor (of a program now present in more than 200 cities) enables an insight into the articulation between policies carried out by the state and the municipalities on one hand, and an original mode of policy privatization on the other hand. This operator does not fit into the usual categories for analysis of policy but corresponds more to the figure of the private entrepreneur succeeding in creating a durable role for himself on the border of two heterogeneous worlds, which often find themselves in conflict, that of public health and the market.

Keywords: Obesity; Public Health; Public Policy; Private Companies; Public-Private Partnership; France

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science; Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology

Henri Bergeron, Patrick Castel, Etienne Nouguez, Amy Jacob. A public policy designed and run by a private entrepreneur. Tensions between public health and private interest in the battle against obesity in France. Revue Française de Science Politique, 2011, 61 (2), pp.201-229. ⟨10.3917/rfsp.612.0201⟩. ⟨hal-03616125⟩