The more or less strong ties between administrations and political power often lead to purification phases during regime changes. The renewal of the political history of the State allows a collective of historians to propose a synthesis and research avenues on political transitions in France since the French Revolution.
“” From what grade it started, betrayal ? »This quote from Louis Aragon extracted from Holy Week is placed in the highlight of this collective volume of historians proposing to take stock of studies on administrative purifications in France in contemporary times. The approach is beneficial because the previous company on this subject now dates back more than thirty years. Since then, the historical work has been numerous, especially on the administrative purification which followed the Second World War. The objective of the authors is to give historical depth to the phenomena of administrative purifications by bringing together in particular several studies on the XIXe century, “ century of convulsion and pacification To resume their expression in their long introduction which takes stock of studies on the issue. They also propose to test the tools offered by political science around the concept of “ transition ” policy. The volume is part of a renewal movement, started for ten years, of the political history of the administration. The directors of the book show the richness of an approach that strives to think of purification as administrative and political processes, by not forgetting any reintegration of civil servants.
Changes in diets and administrative continuity
The rupture of the French Revolution logically opens this question on civil servants. From 1789 to 1870, changes in regimes were rapid and the question of the report of administrative staff in political power was often debated. Serge Bianchi tries to draw up a picture of these developments and the historiographical debates they have provoked, insisting on the local level. By proposing the monograph of a prefect, Pierre Karila-Cohen helps to understand the complexity of the phenomena that are at the heart of this book. Claude Laurent Bourgeois de Jessaint was indeed prefect of the Marne without interruption from 1800 to 1838, which explains the title of the contribution: “ The inexpressible »» ! The career of this civil servant may surprise not only by its exceptional duration, by maintaining in the same prefecture, but also and first of all because it is part of a period which experienced no less than six different political regimes and purifications particularly massive. A first explanation would be to see in this prefect only “ weather vane (It is also quoted in a famous Girouettes dictionary Posted in 1815 !). But such an approach neglects the understanding of the way in which Bourgeois of Jessaint uses his political, economic and notable supporters, and more broadly the way in which he occupies his function of prefect on the ground. He is not a zealous servant of successive powers. This prefect is especially anchored in his department, in a “ logic both paternalistic and heritage », And seems to have voluntarily put himself at a distance from the political crashes of his time.
Professionalization, a bulwark against politicization ?
The approach of the administration and its purifications is not limited to that of senior officials. Arnaud-Dominique Houte reminds us through the analysis of the gendarmerie. His conclusion is that between 1791 and 1939 “ Governments are resistant to the temptations of a French “remains” system and take the risk – calculated – to operate a gendarmerie populated by former opponents ». The key word here is the progressive professionalization of a function at the start very linked with certain political regimes. Military status also makes it easier to assert during the XXe century a form of apoliticalism. On another scale, that of the municipal staff of the Parisian suburbs between 1880 and 1950, Emmanuel Bellanger proposed a reflection on an administration then in full expansion and directly confronted with local political changes. He shows that, far from possible “ witch hunts During electoral alternations, elected officials are first in search of skills: professionalization is also married there with greater stability. Originality is here the creation of a national school of municipal administration (title granted in 1929 after several years of experience) and the unionization of staff. The numerous municipalities elected during the 1930s, then the Vichy regime and the Liberation, caused purifications, but these are contained and localized. The preservation of good administrative walking remains an objective and “ Political ruptures have often been oversized and instrumentalized for partisan purposes ».
Under the beautiful title of “ The sustainability of vulnerable bodies », Alain Bancaud offers an analysis of the Council of State. The institution located at the Palais-Royal occupies a special place in French administrative history and it was, among other things, marked by an important purification during the establishment of IIIe Republic. Using his work on the judiciary between 1930 and 1950, Alain Bancaud insists particularly on this period while comparing it to the successive purifications of the XIXe century. It illustrates the resistance of the Council of State in the face of political changes, including in crises where it is sometimes violently questioned.
Civil servants and democratic order
Two points of view on foreign experiences are offered. Marie-Bénédicte Vincent became interested in German experiences in 1919 and 1949. From a sociological analysis of the trajectories of senior Prussian officials, the historian shows that the administrative continuity posed after the First World War has heavily mortgaged the consolidation of the Republic of Weimar. It also returns to the important file of denazification by showing its limits for civil servants between 1945 and 1949. The law of “ Reintegration of hunted officials », Dated April 10, 1951, confirming the limits of denazification. Beyond the questions of politics (local, national and international), this administrative continuity is also understood by reference to the constitutional guarantees of German officials. On this point the RFAwith its basic law of 1949, draws lessons from the first XXe century and forced officials to accept democratic order, which had not been the case in 1919. Valeria Galimi proposed a study on the purification of Italian prefects between 1943 and 1946. To overcome a polemical historiography on the question, The author chooses a regional approach to the Tuscan case and shows the political ineffectiveness of a purification of civil servants linked to a regime established for two decades. In a afterword, Marc Olivier Baruch insists on the permanent forms of politicization of administrations and shows that the purification phases are only a moment of paroxysmal manifestation.
This volume presents the richness of the work produced in recent years on the political history of administrations in France, in particular concerning the XIXe century. Opening to international comparisons is limited but suggestive and the collective character makes it possible to vary the scales of analysis as well as working on long times. There “ tormented “What evokes the title of the work therefore does not consist of simple occasional crises, but in the processes of political transitions and confrontation of civil servants in the long term in the history of political regimes and the French Republic.