ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the institutionalization of pensions and its impact on
pension reform in France. The management of public pensions today is quite similar to the way it was designed at the end of World War II. Social
partners were very much involved in the development of pension policies
and played a central role in their implementation. This involvement, how-
ever, did not happen overnight, but was the result of a long series of con-
flicts and policy failures that led the state and social partners to co-operate
to establish the foundation of a viable pension policy, in terms of both
generosity and how it would be financed. Fifty years later, this trend is
changing as the state plays a stronger, but challenged role. The French pension system is fragmented along socio-occupational lines
and includes numerous schemes (see Table 2.1). Despite this plethora of
schemes, there is a convergence towards the rules and benefits granted by
the largest pension scheme for private-sector workers (re´gime ge´ne´ral), a
plan that operates on an insurance basis that ties, albeit loosely, benefits to
contributions. Civil servants also have various schemes, often referred to as
re´gimes spe´ciaux, where retirement is perceived as a continuation of working
life. Most civil servants are enrolled in the re´gime des fonctionnaires. They are itemized as such in the state budget and are granted benefits based on
the civil servant’s professional status and length of service prior to retire-
ment, even though some contributions are made.
