French Corporate Governance in the New Global Economy: Mechanisms of Change and Hybridisation within Models of Capitalism

Clift, Ben

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00655.x

Cited by 34 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Bourdieu 1989;Suleimann 1978;Bertin-Mourot 1995, 1997;Zysman 1983;115, 131). This societal elitism is compounded within French capitalism by oligarchic and 'Napoleonic' corporate governance norms that offer the président directeur général (PDG) almost complete freedom to act within the firm (Clift 2007;O'Sullivan 2007). The oligarchic, elitist character of French business throughout the 20 th Century endures today (Offerlé 2009;Grémont 2007, 2010).…”

Section: Conceptions Of the Market And National Traditions Of Economimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the German emphasis on rule-bound firms policed by a regulatory order to ensure their 'conformity with the market' is at odds with a French approach to corporate governance where bosses have enormous autonomy in shaping firm behaviour. French company law prioritises not conformity with the market but instead notions of social interest of the firm, l'intérêt social, reflecting a 'common general interest' of the company as a community, emphasising service provision to the community over the market, or competition (see Clift 2007). Deep-seated French hostility to liberalism as a political movement and intellectual tradition, viewing British and American liberalism as an 'anti-model' (Hayward 2007: 343-70) helps explain the non-liberal character of French corporate governance.…”

Section: Conceptions Of the Market And National Traditions Of Economimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post-DirigisteResponses to the Global Financial Crisis

Clift

2012

New Political Economy

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This article advances the case for the more systematic incorporation of ideational factors into comparative capitalisms analysis as a corrective to the rational choice proclivities of the Varieties of Capitalism approach. It demonstrates the pay-off of such an ideationally attuned approach through analysis of French capitalist restructuring over the last 25 years, placing it in comparative context. A modus operandi for such ideational explanation is elaborated through delineating different national conceptions of the market, and setting out their impacts on practices of market-making. The claim made in this article is that understanding the evolution of French capitalism requires recognition of the ongoing market-making role of the French State, in combination with the French conception of the market and its embedding within a social context characterised by the interpenetration of public and private elitist networks of France's 'financial network economy' which remains substantially intact. The ideational dimension is crucial because French understandings of the market and competition, the ideational building blocks of market-making, inform French state interventions and leave footprints on French institutions and market structures, and the evolutionary trajectory of French capitalism. In charting this trajectory, this article deploys the concept of post-dirigisme. We map out the parameters and causes of the post-dirigiste condition in France through examination of French bond market development, privatisation, the shift from a government-to a market-dominated financial system, and French capitalism's internationalisation. It then uses postdirigisme to explain French state responses to the financial crisis and the banking bailout, noting how state actors, in concert with the banking elites, actively facilitated dominant market positions of French international champions.

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Section: Conceptions Of the Market And National Traditions Of Economimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptions Of the Market And National Traditions Of Economimentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post-DirigisteResponses to the Global Financial Crisis

Clift

2012

New Political Economy

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“…There is a caveat to this picture of a protectionist French banking system. Within a few years of privatization, the cross-shareholding networks began to unravel and foreign control of the largest national banks increased (Clift, 2007;Culpepper, 2005;Maclean et al, 2001).…”

Section: International National and Local Championsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the decline in cross-shareholding portfolios, important features of the 'financial network economy' remained (Clift, 2012;Dudouet and Grémont, 2010), including shareholding pacts as between BNP Paribas and the insurance giant AXA.…”

Section: International National and Local Championsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Comparative Political Economy Basel III in Europe

Howarth

Quaglia

2015

SSRN Journal

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The Basel III Accord was the centerpiece of the international regulatory response to the global financial crisis, setting new capital requirements for internationally active banks. This paper explains the divergent preferences on Basel III of national regulators in three countries that approximate what are frequently presented as distinct varieties of capitalism in EuropeGermany, the United Kingdom and France. It is argued that national regulators faced a 'trilemma' in setting capital requirements, having to prioritize among banking sector stability, the competitiveness of national banks and short to medium term economic growth. Different varieties of national financial system -specifically, banking system and different kinds of 'banking champions' -explain the different prioritization of objectives in the 'trilemma' and hence for the divergent preferences of national regulators on Basel III capital requirements.

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“…(2006) The market-making legal fabric of company law in these political economies reflects different traditions of economic thought. In France, the notion of social interest of the firm, l'intérêt social, has always been pervasive (see Clift 2007). As the Viénot report on French corporate governance notes, this intérêt social simply does not exist in Anglo-Saxon law, yet it plays a key role in French company law (Viénot 1995: 935);…”

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confidence: 99%

Economic Patriotism, the Clash of Capitalisms, and State Aid in the European Union

Clift

2012

J Ind Compet Trade

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Abstract:This article analyses the political economy of state aid in the European Union (EU) using the concepts of economic patriotism and models of capitalism. State aid is analysed as a form of economic patriotism, which is conceived here as economic interventions which seek, by a number of means, to advance the perceived economic self-interest of particular groups and actors (firms, workforces, or sectors) defined according to their territorial status. The article argues that the paradox of neo-liberal democracy generated by liberal international markets, overlapping economic governance regimes (such as the EU and the World Trade Organisation), and nationally delimited political mandates presents new problems for policy-makers attempting economic interventions like state aid. Forms of economic patriotism are partly shaped by national institutional and social configurations and state traditions. Within EU economic governance, this generates a 'clash of capitalisms' whereby liberal EU anti-trust and competition policy norms proscribe certain state aid and industrial policy measures favoured by some European states. As traditional industrial policy becomes decreasingly viable, new modes of economic patriotic interventionism are enacted within contemporary processes of market-making, and the re-regulatory activity framing European markets. The paper focuses on French state aid responses to the global economic crisis, noting how the retreat of neo-liberal ebullience within the EU provides a conducive environment for resurgent French dirigiste approaches to state aid, indicating that the politics of economic patriotism and state aid will continue to be important features of the European political economic landscape in the years ahead. the EU provides a conducive environment for resurgent French dirigiste approaches to state aid, indicating that the politics of economic patriotism and state aid will continue to be important features of the European political economic landscape in the years ahead. JEL Classification: B10; D20; D72; F50; G28; G34; H81; L52; P16.

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French Corporate Governance in the New Global Economy: Mechanisms of Change and Hybridisation within Models of Capitalism

Cited by 34 publications

References 41 publications

Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post-DirigisteResponses to the Global Financial Crisis

Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post-DirigisteResponses to the Global Financial Crisis

The Comparative Political Economy Basel III in Europe

Economic Patriotism, the Clash of Capitalisms, and State Aid in the European Union

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