ABSTRACT
From relance to rigueur More eontentious were the policies aimed at solving the soeio-eeonomie erisis whieh affeeted all western soeieties. Inspired by Thateher in Britain and Reagan in the USA, most western governments thought that neo-liberal polieies offered an attraetive alternative to a Keynesian model which now seemed to have run out of steam. State intervention was deemed teehnically inefficient, if not mo rally dangerous, compared to market solutions. The state should be rolled back and private initiatives eneouraged. Conversely, the Freneh socialists believed that it was the half-hearted eommitment of previous Freneh governments to Keynesianism whieh was responsible for the eurrent economie turmoil. Therefore, it was time to give the state the means to play its proper role and to embark on a comprehensive politique de relance.
