France: A Late-Comer to Government-Nonprofit Partnership

Edith Archambault (1)

1 CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne

This article puts the current cooperative pattern of state-nonprofit relations in France into historical context against the country’s statist past and suggests the implications this experience may have for other countries that share the statist background that France, perhaps in somewhat different form, also embodies. To do so, the discussion first reviews the current shape of the French nonprofit sector and the substantial scope and structure of government support of nonprofit human service delivery that exists. It then examines the unfavorable historical background out of which the current arrangements emerged and the set of changes that ultimately led to the existing pattern of extensive government-nonprofit cooperation. Against this background, a third section then looks more closely at the tools of action French governments are bringing to bear in their relations with nonprofits, the advantages and drawbacks of each, and the nonprofit role in the formulation of public policies. Finally, the article examines the key challenges in government-nonprofit cooperation in the provision of human services and the lessons the French experience might hold for Russia and other similar countries.

Cet article place le partenariat actuel entre le secteur non lucratif et les pouvoirs publics en perspective historique , en dépit d'une tradition jacobine défavorable, et suggère que l'expérience de l'évolution en France pourrait avoir des implications pour d'autres pays étatiste, sous des formes différentes vraisemblablement. Après un état des lieux actuel sur la part que le Tiers secteur occupe dans l'offre de services éducatifs et médico-sociaux en France et un rappel des étapes historiques marquant l'évolution des relations entre Etat et associations et fondations, l'article montre les divers moyens d'action des pouvoirs publics dans leurs relation avec ces organisations et l'influence du secteur non lucratif dans la formulation des politiques publiques

Mots clés: Nonprofit Organizations; nonprofit sector; associations; foundations; government-nonprofit relations; statism; welfare mix; public regulation; education; health; social services

Domaines: Economies et finances

Edith Archambault. France: A Late-Comer to Government-Nonprofit Partnership. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2016. ⟨halshs-01080766v2⟩