Thierry Ribault

Capitalizing on Variety: Risks and Opportunities in a New French Social Model

Researchers who endeavour to draw up comparative typologies of national models, always experience difficulties in classifying France relative to other developed countries.1 Indeed, whether they focus on production, employment or welfare regimes as a whole, or on the specific components of such regimes such as management systems, corporate governance, social protection, gender contracts, industrial relations or various combinations of these aspects, France is often placed in an ambiguous position reflecting the complexity of its system and the institutional layering that characterizes its political structure.