Rezension: Genieys, William & Darviche, Mohammad-Saïd (2023): Elites, Policies and State Reconfiguration - Transforming the French Welfare Regime

Abstract

This book takes the hierarchical political system in France as a starting point to analyze the influence of elites on the reconfiguration of state and policy processes. Major reform developments in social policy are attributed to actors' biographies and changing constellations. While the book thereby offers a detailed account of social policy reforms and individual backgrounds, it lacks a theoretical connection to the broader public policy research literature beyond elite sociology and path dependency. Thereby, a systematic and theoretically guided identification of mechanisms that link actor dynamics and policy outcomes is missing. Nevertheless, the impressively comprehensive interview data from several decades provides invaluable insights into influential actors within the state, serving as a resource for researchers, lecturers, and practitioners.