Limiting the executive power after the Second World War: the invention of administrative science
| Author | Céline Mavrot |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320985591 |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Limiting the executive
power after the Second
World War: the
invention of
administrative science
C
eline Mavrot
University of Bern and University of California – Los Angeles
(UCLA), USA
Abstract
This article analyses the emergence of administrative science in France in the wake of
the Second World War. The birth of this discipline is examined through the history of
its founders, a group of comparatist aiming at developing universal administrative prin-
ciples. The post-war context prompted the creation of checks and balances against
administrative power (through oversight of the legality of administrative action) and
against the powers of nation states (through human rights and international organiza-
tions). Administrative science and comparative law were meant to rebuild international
relations. The history of this discipline highlights a legal project to redefine the role and
limits of executive power at the dawn of the construction of a new world order.
Points for practitioners
Looking at long-term developments in the science of administration helps to inform
administrative practice by providing a historical and reflective perspective. This article
shows how a new understanding of the administrative reality emerged after the fall of
the totalitarian regimes of the first half of the 20th century. It highlights the different
ways in which administrative power was controlled after the Second World War
through greater oversight over administrative legality, the establishment of universal
administrative principles and the proclamation of human rights. Questions of adminis-
trative legitimacy and the limitation of administrative power are still very much part of
Corresponding author:
C
eline Mavrot, University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, 90095,
USA.
Email: celine.mavrot@kpm.unibe.ch
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
!The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020852320985591
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
2022, Vol. 88(3) 809–825
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
the daily practice of executive power, and represent a central aspect of administrative
thinking.
Keywords
administrative law, administrative science, comparative law, France, history of law,
International Institute of Administrative Sciences, pacifism, Second World War
Introduction
To date, little attention has been given to the creation of French administrative science
in the aftermath of the Second World War. In the immediate post-war period, a group
of comparative lawyers created a new scientific discipline under this name. In a coun-
try strongly marked by a tradition of administrative law, this initiative was by no
means insignificant. Taken up by jurists with a strong internationalist vision, this new
science was immediately conceived as a supranational instrument at the service of
peace. It aimed not only to strengthen the control of administrative activity, but
also to bring nations together around universal administrative principles. This endeav-
our was part of a more general context aimed at renewing the constitutional order, as
well as the understanding of the administrative reality, in the post-war period. On the
one hand, the post-Second World War period was a time of intense reflection on the
legitimacy of the administration (Baruch and Duclert, 2003) accompanied by major
administrative reform projects (Payre, 2002: 543). On the othe r hand, administrative
law came under criticism for its inability to account for the increasing complexity of
administrative phenomena (Chevallier, 1986: 36–37). The intention of the founders of
administrative science was to analyse administration in the light of sociological con-
cepts, taking it beyond a purely legal framework of analysis.
Their initiative was also deeply affected by the two world wars witnessed by this
generation, prompting them to conceptualize mechanisms of checks and balances
against authoritarian excesses. While the immediate post-war period spawned a
number of cultural, diplomatic, economic and intellectual initiatives aimed at
restoring international dialogue, French administrative science made its contribu-
tion to the legal side of this movement. The comparatism that underlies it was
conceived as an instrument of dialogue between nations. This example underlines
the importance of understanding emerging knowledge in the ‘disciplinary config-
uration’ from which it comes, at the interplay between various disciplines
(Blondiaux, 2002: 58). In this case, comparative administrative law was given a
new momentum in the post-war period. Through administrative science, it was to
contribute to the reflection on how to limit national sovereignty and the executive
power – via human rights, international organizations and guarantees relating to
administrative legality – in the wake of the trauma of war and in order to restore a
peaceful world order (Mavrot, 2015; Sager et al., 2018).
810 International Review of Administrative Sciences 88(3)
To continue reading
Request your trial