Limiting the executive power after the Second World War

The invention of administrative science

Bibliographic Data

ID9962002
AuthorsC Mavrot (0000-0001-9603-5790, University of Bern and University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume88
Issue3
Pages809-825
Publication date2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Administrative Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8523 • E-ISSN: 1461-7226
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0020852320985591
OpenAlexW3126924286
LanguageEN
References cited25

This article analyses the emergence of administrative science in France in the wake of the Second World War. The birth of this discipline is examined through the history of its founders, a group of comparatist aiming at developing universal administrative principles. The post-war context prompted the creation of checks and balances against administrative power (through oversight of the legality of administrative action) and against the powers of nation states (through human rights and international organizations). Administrative science and comparative law were meant to rebuild international relations. The history of this discipline highlights a legal project to redefine the role and limits of executive power at the dawn of the construction of a new world order. Points for practitioners Looking at long-term developments in the science of administration helps to inform administrative practice by providing a historical and reflective perspective. This article shows how a new understanding of the administrative reality emerged after the fall of the totalitarian regimes of the first half of the 20th century. It highlights the different ways in which administrative power was controlled after the Second World War through greater oversight over administrative legality, the establishment of universal administrative principles and the proclamation of human rights. Questions of administrative legitimacy and the limitation of administrative power are still very much part of the daily practice of executive power, and represent a central aspect of administrative thinking

Administrative law · Context (archaeology · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Principle of legality · Proclamation · Sociology · World War II · European Political History Analysis · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Public Administration

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