Schmidt, Vivien A. (1997) "The untold story: The impact of European integration on France in the Mitterrand-Chirac era (1981-1997)". In: UNSPECIFIED, Seattle, WA. (Unpublished)
Abstract
European integration has been a central force for change in France, helping spur the country’s move from a largely state-directed economy to a more market-oriented one. Reforms that include the abandonment of macro-economic autonomy and micro-economic controls over business and the restructuring of French industry have revolutionized the way in which French governmental elites manage the economy and interact with business. State interventionism, where it remains, is more circumscribed and market-oriented, and mainly limited to actions involving firms in strategic areas or in trouble. But although the changes in macro-economic and micro-economic spheres have produced a healthier economy, more competitive business, and a transformation in business-government relations, they have also led to a concomitant loss of state capacity in the socioeconomic sphere with regard to social welfare and unemployment. Because this loss of socioeconomic capacity has not been accompanied by a new political discourse that would serve to justify France’s Europe-related economic adjustments or to promote new forms of dialogue and concentration between government and citizens, the continued liberalization of the economy could be called into question.
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