The neo-dirigiste production of French capitalism since 1980: the view from three major industries

Matthieu Ansaloni () and Andy Smith ()
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Matthieu Ansaloni: LaSSP - Laboratoire des Sciences Sociales du Politique - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse
Andy Smith: CED - Centre Émile Durkheim - IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques [FNSP]

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Abstract: What structures France's current model of capitalism divides academic specialists. For some, the dirigisme installed after 1945 is over because the country has simply adopted market liberalism. For others, French capitalism has resisted wholesale liberalization by becoming ‘post-dirigiste'. This article argues instead that the very nucleus of French dirigisme lives on. This claim is developed by analysing post-1980 change in three major industries (agriculture, defence aerospace and pharmaceuticals). If the inscription of French producers in international markets and global finance has indeed eroded national capacity to unilaterally determine economic practices and outcomes, often through investing in the European scale, many renewed modes of intervention have actually enabled French capitalism to retain its most significant institutions. Explanation for the political success of this ‘neo-dirigisme' is traced to struggles that have taken place within and beyond the state. During these conflicts, actors seeking to embed neo-liberal content into economic interventionism have consistently won out over opponents who advocate a wider range of interventionist policy tools.

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Regulation; Defence aerospace; Capitalism; Dirigisme; Agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01772893v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in French Politics, 2018, 16 (2), pp.154-178. ⟨10.1057/s41253-018-0061-1⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01772893

DOI: 10.1057/s41253-018-0061-1

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