Clift, Ben. (2006) The new political economy of Dirigisme: French macroeconomic policy, unrepentant sinning and the stability and growth pact. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol.8 (No.3). pp. 388-409. ISSN 1369-1481

Preview

PDF WRAP_Clift_0370082-300609-unrepentant_sinner_isa.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader Download (182Kb)

Abstract

This article traces the enduring influence of the dirigiste traditions on contemporary French macroeconomic policy-making, arguing that French policy both within and towards the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is consistent with long-standing French dirigiste preferences and policy traditions. Specifically it explores how, within the SGP, French governments have created and defended significant fiscal policy space, and how the scope for discretionary policy-making has in fact been enhanced by the credibility accrued through European rule-based governance. Furthermore, it analyses how, in their policies towards the SGP, French governments have successfully influenced the reshaping of the fiscal policy architecture, introducing a more dirigiste interventionism in the interpretation and implementation of the SGP, loosening constraints in accordance with dirigiste preferences. French policy-makers have thus played a 'long-run game' with European economic governance—initially accepting ordo-liberal orthodoxy, only to subsequently 'move the goalposts' in a more dirigiste direction.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions D History General and Old World > DC France
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Economics -- Political aspects -- France., Macroeconomics., European Union countries -- Economic policy -- 20th century., France -- Economic policy -- 20th century.
Journal or Publication Title:	British Journal of Politics and International Relations
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	1369-1481
Date:	August 2006
Volume:	Vol.8
Number:	No.3
Page Range:	pp. 388-409
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1467-856X.2006.00235.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
References:	# Almunia, J. (2004) 'Editorial: Quarterly Report on the Euro Area' III/2004, (Brussels: European Commission). # Allsopp, C. and Artis, M. (2003) 'The assessment: EMU four years on', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 19:1, 12–16. Links # Andrews, D. (2001) 'Financial deregulation and the origins of EMU: The French policy reversal of 1983', in T. Sinclair and K. Thomas (eds), Structure and Agency in International Capital Mobility (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 9–26. # Begg, I., Hodson, D. and Maher, I. (2003) 'Economic policy co-ordination in the EU', National Institute Economic Review, 183, 66–77. Links # Cameron, D. (1996) 'Exchange rate politics in France 1981–83: The regime defining choices of the Mitterrand presidency', in T. Daley (ed), The Mitterrand Era (London: Macmillan), 56–82. # Clift, B. (2001) 'The Jospin way', The Political Quarterly, 72:2, 170–179. Links # Clift, B. (2003a) French Socialism in a Global Era (London: Continuum). # Clift, B. (2003b) 'The changing political economy of France: Dirigisme under duress', in M. Ryner and A. Cafruny (eds), A Ruined Fortress? Neo-liberal Hegemony and Transformation Europe (New York: Rowman & Littlefield), 173–200. # Clift, B. (2004) 'The French model of capitalism: Still exceptional?', in J. Perraton and B. Clift (eds), Where Are National Capitalisms Now? (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 91–110. # Clift (2005) 'The French socialists, Dirigisme, and the troubled Europeanisation of employment policy', in E. Godin and T. Chafer (eds), The French Exception (Oxford: Berghahn), 106–120. # Clift, B. and Tomlinson, J. (2004) 'Capital mobility and fiscal policy: The construction of economic policy rectitude in Britain and France', New Political Economy, 9:4, 515–537. Links # Cohen, B. (1996) 'Phoenix arisen: The resurrection of global finance', World Politics, 48, 268–296. Links # Cohen, E. (1995) 'France: National champions in search of a mission', in J. Hayward (ed), Industrial Enterprise and European Integration: From National to International Champions in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 23–47. # Cohen, E. (1996) La Tentation Hexagonale (Paris: Fayard). # Cole, A. (1999) 'The Service Publique Under Stress', West European Politics, 22:4, 166–184. Links # Cole, A. and Drake, H. (2000) 'The Europeanisation of the French polity: Continuity, change and adaptation', Journal of European Public Policy, 7:1, 26–43. Links # Crawford, M. (1996) One Money for Europe? (Basingstoke: Macmillan). # Creel, J., Dupont, G., Le Cacheux, J., Sterdyniak, H. and Timbeau, X. (2002) 'Budget 2003: Le pécheur non repenti', La Lettre de L'OFCE, 224, 1–4. Links # de Vries, M. (1976) The International Monetary Fund, 1966–1971: The System Under Stress (Washington: International Monetary Fund). # Dupont, G. (2000) 'La politique economique', in OFCE, L'Economie Francaise 2000 (Paris: La Découverte), 62–72. # Dupont, G. (2001) 'La politique economique', in OFCE, L'Economie Francaise 2001 (Paris: La Découverte), 65–75. # Dyson, K. (1980) The State Tradition in Western Europe (Oxford: Martin Robertson). # Dyson, K. (1999a) 'The Franco-German relationship and economic and monetary union: Using Europe to "bind Leviathan" ', West European Politics, 22:1, 25–44. Links # Dyson, K. (1999b) 'Benign or malevolent leviathan? Social democratic governments in a neo-liberal Euro area', Political Quarterly, 70:2, 195–209. Links # Dyson, K. and Featherstone, K. (1999) The Road to Maastricht: Negotiating Economic and Monetary Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press). # ECOFIN (2003) 'Economic and Finance Ministers Council Meeting Press Release', Brussels (25 November 2003), Nr. 14492/03. # ECOFIN (2005) 'Improving the implementation of the Growth and Stability Pact', Report of the extraordinary ECOFIN Council, 20 March 2005, Annex II of European Council 'Presidency Conclusions Brussels European Council 22 and 23 March 2005', available online at: http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/84335.pdf, 7619/1/05REV 1. # Eichengreen, B. and Wyplosz, C. (1998) 'The Stability Pact: More than a minor nuisance?', Economic Policy, 26, 67–113. Links # Eijffinger, S. and Hahn, J. (2000) European Monetary and Fiscal Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press). # European Commission (2000) The European Economy: Public Finances in EMU (Brussels: European Commission). # European Commission (2002) 'Commission sets out Strategy for Economic Policy Co-ordination and Surveillance', Brussels IP/04/35. # European Commission (2004a) 'Strengthening economic governance and clarifying the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact', COM (2004) 581, 3 September 2004, Brussels. # European Commission (2004b) 'The situation in Germany and France in relation to their obligations under the excessive deficit procedure following the judgement of the Court of Justice', COM (2004) 813, 14 December 2004, Brussels. # European Council (2005) 'Presidency conclusions Brussels European Council 22 and 23 March 2005', available online at: http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/84335.pdf, 7619/1/05 REV 1. # European Court of Justice (2004) 'Judgement of the Court of Justice in Case C-27/04', Press Release No 57/04 13 July 2004, Brussels. # Gill, S. (1998) 'European governance and new constitutionalism: Economic and monetary union and alternatives to neo-liberalism in Europe', New Political Economy, 3:1, 5–26. Links # Halimi, S., Michie, J. and Milne, S. (1994) 'The Mitterrand experience', in J. Michie and J. Grieve Smith (eds), Unemployment in Europe (London: Academic Press), 97–115. # Hall, P. (1986) Governing the Economy (Cambridge: Polity). # Hazareesingh, S. (1994) Political Traditions in Modern France (Oxford: Oxford University Press). # Helleiner, E. (1994) States and the Re-emergence of Global Finance (Ithaca: Cornell University Press). # Howarth, D. (2001) The French Road to European Monetary Union (Basingstoke: Palgrave). # Howarth, D. (2002) 'The France state in the Euro zone', in K. Dyson (ed), European States and the Euro-zone (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 145–172. # Howarth, D. (2004a) 'Breaking the rules: The French reconceptualisation of Economic Government?', Paper presented at the PSA Annual conference, Lincoln, April 2004, pp. 1–35. # Howarth, D. (2004b) 'Rhetorical divergence: Real convergence? The economic policy debate in the 2002 French presidential and legislative elections', in J. Gaffney (ed), The French Presidential and Legislative Elections of 2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate), 200–221. # Jospin, L. (1999) Modern Socialism (London: Fabian Society). # Jospin, L. (2001) Ma Vision de l'Europe et de la Mondialisation, Notes de la Fondation Jean-Jaurès, 25 (Paris: Plon). # Ladrech, R. (2001) 'Europeanisation and French social democracy', Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 3:1, 37–48. Links # Lamy, P. and Pisani-Ferry, J. (2002) 'The Europe we want', in L. Jospin (ed), My Vision of Europe and Globalization (Cambridge: Polity), 41–149. (Originally published as 'L'Europe de nos Volontés', Notes de la Fondation Jean Jaurès, No. 27, January 2002.) # Levy, J. (2000) 'France: Directing adjustment?', in F. Scharpf and V. Schmidt (eds), Welfare and Work in the Open Economy: Volume Two (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 337–344. # Levy, J. (2001) 'Social policy in the age of high unemployment', in A. Guyomarch, H. Machin, P. Hall and J. Hayward (eds), Developments in French Politics 2 (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 191–210. # Levy, J. (2005) 'Economic policy and policy-making', in A. Cole, P. Le Galès and J. Levy (eds), Developments in French Politics 3 (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 170–195. # Lombard, M. (1995) 'A re-examination of the reasons for the failure of Keynesian expansionary policies in France 1981–1983', Cambridge Journal of Economics, 19, 359–372. Links # Lordon, F. (2001) 'The logic and limits of Désinflation Compétitive', in A. Glyn (ed), Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 110–137. # Loriaux, M. (1991) France after Hegemony (Ithaca: Cornell University Press). # Mathieu, C. and Sterdyniak, H. (2003) 'Réformer le Pacte de Stabilité: L'Etat du débat', Revue de L'OFCE, 84, 145–179. Links # Mathieu, C. and Sterdyniak, H. (2005) 'Pacte de Stabilité: La réforme impossible', Lettre de L'OFCE, 257, 1–8. Links # Mayes, D. and Virén, M. (2004) 'Pressures on the Stability and Growth Pact from asymmetry in policy', Journal of European Public Policy, 11:5, 781–797. Links # Moscovici, P. (1997) L'Urgence: Plaidoyer pour une autre Politique (Paris: Plon). # Muet, P.-A. and Fonteneau, A. (1985) La Gauche Face a la Crise (Paris: FNSP). # OECD (2000) OECD Economic Surveys: France (Paris: OECD). # OFCE (2000) L'Economie Française 2000 (Paris: La Découverte). # OFCE (2004) 'Meprise sur la reprise: Perspectives pour l'economie Française 2004–2005', Lettre de l'OFCE, 248, 1–8. Links # Palier, B. (2002) Gouverner la Sécurité Sociale (Paris: Presses Universitaires Française). # Parti Socialiste (1997) Changeons d'Avenir: Nos Engagements pour la France (Paris: PS Presse). # Pisani-Ferry, J. (2002) 'Fiscal discipline and policy coordination in the Eurozone: Assessment and proposals', Paper prepared for the European Commission President's Group of Economic Analysis. # Polanyi, K. (2001 [1944]) The Great Transformation (Boston, MA: Beacon Press). # Ruggie, J. (1982) 'International regimes, transactions and change: Embedded liberalism in the post-war economic order', International Organization, 36:2, 379–415. Links # Ryner, M. (2003) 'Disciplinary neoliberalism, regionalization, and the social market in German restructuring', in M. Ryner and A. Cafruny (eds), A Ruined Fortress? Neo-liberal Hegemony and Transformation Europe (New York: Rowman & Littlefield), 201–231. # Schmidt, V. (1996) From State to Market? The Transformation of French Business and Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). # Schmidt, V. (1997) 'Running on empty: The end of dirigisme in French economic leadership', Modern and Contemporary France, 5:2, 229–241. Links # Shonfield, A. (1969) Modern Capitalism: The Changing Balance of Public and Private Power (London: Oxford University Press). # Solbes, P. (2002) 'Budgetary challenges in the euro area', Communication, SEC 1009/3, 24 September. # Sterdyniak, H. (2004) 'L'introuvable réforme fiscale', Lettre de l'OFCE, 249, 1–8. Links # Strange, S. (1976) International Monetary Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press). # Strauss-Kahn, D. (1999) 'For a European growth and employment pact', 21 April 1999, available online at: http://www.finances.gouv.fr/archives/communiques/c9904212.html (accessed 25 February 2005). # Swank, D. (2002) Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). # Zysman, J. (1983) Government, Markets, Growth: Financial Systems and the Politics of Industrial Change (Ithaca: Cornell University Press).
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/957

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item