The international origins of social reforms

The review Genes: Social Sciences and History devotes its June 2008 issue to “ Transnational social actions ». The two introductory articles have expanded a field of research for ten years, and question the challenges and methods of the work devoted to the transnational dimension of social policies. It is a question of highlighting the importance of exchanges and transnational debates in terms of social reform since the beginning of XIX^e century, and to show that in this context of the categories, methods and know-how that have fueled the various social and economic reform programs implemented in the countries of the North Atlantic. The historical works which adopt this perspective, and of which Pierre-Yves Saunier draws up a rapid assessment, are particularly interested in the actors of these exchanges and the existence of international networks of experts ; Second, they study the places of exchange, whether international organizations or more informal communities, transnational reflection and action groups that recruit throughout the political and social spectrum. The constitution of a northern Atlantic horizon of references in social matters is thus highlighted, of a language common to reformers of the different nations within the framework of which consensus and disagreements are expressed.

Social reforms and international traffic

This approach presents for the authors of the file a double issue. It allows first to “ denationalize the study of social policies “And to help a better understanding of national policies by showing the” exogenous transplants “, THE “ non -domestic contributions »To their constitution. A game on scales and a constant back and forth between the local and the international thus highlight the mechanisms of transnational legitimation at work in the construction of national realities. The process of “ nationalization From the social world described by Gérard Noiriel can therefore understand each other, according to Pierre-Yves Saunier, as a “ national marking process Which takes place in a context of development of transnational exchanges and comparative practices. Secondly, this research current must help explain the convergences that are observed between the national social policies of the North Atlantic countries.

Pierre-Yves Saunier identifies three “ Circulatory configurations or regimes »Successively appeared in the North Atlantic space. The first is set up in the first decades of XIX^e century, when the social question is formulated ; Private philanthropy is an essential component, and exchanges have the privileged object of housing. The second regime supports an institutional request from municipal, provincial and national governments in the last decades of XIX^e century, while large experiences of social policy are taking shape. Unemployment, housing, public health are the privileged areas of these contacts. Finally, a third regime appears at the start of XX^e century and more clearly after the First World War. At its origin, the desire to create international standards and standards ; States philanthropy in its Rockefellerian component, as well as international organizations born from the Treaty of Versailles, play an active role. The author insists that these circulations were able to exceed the North Atlantic space, and that they were also at work simultaneously.

Social institutions, expertise and policies

After this methodological introduction, the number of Genes Proposes three cases of cases presenting transnational social actions in the interwar period. Sandrine Kott’s article is based on the analysis of correspondence relating to the activities of the first expert committee of the International Labor Organization (Oit), the correspondence committee for social insurance, to reflect on the importance of expert knowledge in the genesis of social policies. If the call to experts responds to a need for technical assistance on the complex issue of social insurance and reinforces the legitimacy of the normative work of theOitits role evolves during the interwar period and their designation responds, more fundamentally, to the need of civil servants of the International Labor Office (BIT) to ensure influential relays in national public administrations and opinion. Sandrine Kott questions the notion of “ Epistemic social community »» ; it shows that the international collective knowledge that is formed at theOit is not reductable to consensual speech by studying the national, institutional and political conflicts that surround the designation of experts. The appointment of experts and the training of a “ epistemic community »Share at the end of competition between various national actors, and, therefore, various social insurance systems within national spaces. The designation of German experts thus intervenes within the framework of a conflict of legitimacy between the Ministry of Labor and the representatives of the insurance funds, often from the social democratic circles. L’Oitanxious to ensure the support of an international public opinion, tended to promote them and to promote a social model self -managed to German.

Dominique Marshall is interested in the emergence, after the Great War, of a diplomacy of childhood well-being, and to the Child Protection Committee to the League of Nations (Unbeased), created in 1924. She concomitantly studied the local dimension of her activity, through the Canadian example, and her international dimension. Canadian representatives were able to develop expertise in the field of child protection and assert their intermediary position between North America and Europe, thereby acquiring an important place in the committee. Some Canadian actors, such as the Canadian Childhood safeguard council, have found legitimacy in international organizations that consolidated their position on the national scene. The activities of Canadian representatives within the framework of the Child Protection Committee at the Unbeased have also been for them the opportunity to theorize the specificity of a “ Canadian tradition of well-being And to develop tools, in particular statistics, which will be reinvested when it is a question, after the war, to transfer to the Canadian State of social skills which were previously the responsibility of the provinces. Dominique Marshall thus underlines that the study of transnational networks for the protection of children’s rights contributes to clarifying the emergence of the Canadian social state.

Finally, Kenneth Bertrams’ article is interested in the transnational anchoring of planning experts. Through the study of the staff of American planning agencies, he shows that these actors are part of transnational study and reflection networks. The author thus invalidates the myth of American exceptionality. However, he emphasizes that the mechanisms of “ renationalization Planning: the rhetoric of its American promoters affirms the specificity of American achievements. Kenneth Bertrams thus highlights an increasing gap between a context of inspiration from the New Deal, of transnational essence, and a context of legitimization which remains above all national. The highlighting of transnational planning networks contributes to him to explain the convergence of European and North American laws during a long XX^e century.

This issue of Genes thus underlines how much the study of international circulation is essential to understand the emergence of national social policies. It is indeed in a context marked by the development of international exchanges that national specificities are formulated in matters of social action. The categories of social action are developed within the framework of debates which largely exceed the boundaries of the nation state, and the action of social reformers unfolds on several scales, local or national on the one hand, international on the other. The authors of the issue are interested in the way in which the actors have been able to reinvest in national scenes the legitimacy they derive from their action in international exchanges, and show that international organizations have been able to strengthen the influence of certain options within the national spaces of debate. Taking into account the transnational dimension of social actions thus sheds new light from the construction and functioning of national social policies.