French Education and the Limits of State Autonomy

Bibliographic Data

ID10875615
AuthorsJohn S Ambler (Rice University, corresponding author)
Year1988
Volume41
Issue3
Pages469-488
Publication date1988-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Western Political Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-4078 • E-ISSN: 2325-8675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/106591298804100305
OpenAlexW1991892779
LanguageEN
References cited23

IN another of those pendulum swings so familiar to observers and practitioners of political science, the popularity of society-centered models of the democratic policy process recently has provoked a series of counterattacks by proponents of models (Nordlinger 1981; Krasner 1978, 1984; Skocpol 1985; and, on neomarxist theories, Carnoy 1984, and Carnoy and Levin 1985). Neither the pluralist nor the orthodox Marxist school, it is argued, gives adequate consideration to the ability of the state to act autonomously. The only means of ascertaining the extent of state autonomy, and the utility of state-centered models, is through case studies of the policy process in different countries and policy areas. The purpose of the following analysis will be twofold: first, to demonstrate the limits of state autonomy in a policy arena which would seem to favor it, and, second, to suggest some general problems with state-centered models in the study of the democratic policy process. The case studies of French education to be presented are not intended to offer a definitive test. Limited as they are in number and scope, they do, however, offer important evidence, for they deal with a policy arena which has a number of characteristics commonly associated with state autonomy. Among Western nations, France often is perceived to be the most perfect democratic embodiment of the strong and centralized state (Krasner 1978: 58-61; Nordlinger 1981: 103, 105; Skocpol 1985: 34, N. 29). 1 In a survey of the development of uses of the concept of the state, J. P. Nettl concludes that . .. it is the French state and the idea of the state that provide the basic European model (Nettl 1968: 567). From the time of Louis XIV and his energetic minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to postwar economic planners, high political authorities have taken a broad view of the state's responsibility for guiding social and economic development. Within French Government, the Ministry of Education is one of the most highly centralized, with extensive formal control over curriculum, personnel and funding allocations. And yet, as will be shown, state autonomy in French education is limited by intrastate conflict and rivalry between public-private coalitions

Autonomy · Political science · State (computer science) · Computer Science · Law · Political and Social Issues · Political Theory and Influence · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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