ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors outline a few central and specific institutions of the French way of life—the educational system, the industrial relations system, the politico-administrative system, and the colonial system. They use the general review of some of the main areas of French life to try better to assess the role of the bureaucratic system of organization within the whole complex of French institutions, and the importance of bureaucratic patterns in general for the French social system. The authors describe that the decisions are made through the working of three different subsystems in French political and administrative system. These subsystems are: the administrative subsystem; the deliberative policy-making subsystem; and the revolutionary grievance-settling subsystem. One of the major characteristics of the French political system has always been the contrast between the permanent and efficient administrative bureaucracy, able to remain impervious to successive political crises, and the unstable governments unable to choose and to carry out consistent policy.
