ABSTRACT
In the history of the French welfare state, the social security institutions were first administered autonomously by the labor unions, from 1945 to 1967. The connection between the social security system, the system of industrial relations, and employment has remained the cornerstone of the French welfare state system to date. In the late 1960s, the state stepped in and took over a leading role in social security. Also, from 1967 onward, the employers’ associations were integrated in the management of the social security system to share power on an equal basis, which changed the logic of social security and welfare state politics, as a third party was added to sharply divided labor unions on the political left and the center. From then on the moderate unions could take over the lead in social security and welfare policy by merging alliances with the employers’ side (Ambler, 1991; Revauger, 2003).
