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ABSTRACT
Following the 2008 financial crash, voices have called governments to re-embrace industrial policy and promote industrial development. Such calls presuppose that the past decades witnessed a relative retreat of activist industrial policies. Within international political economy the latter is explained by the limits posed by the structure of global economic governance and globalisation on the state’s interventionist capacities. This article argues that these constraints have enabled states to pursue the transnational depoliticisation of industrial policy and transfer decision-making responsibilities to spheres lying beyond the governmental arena such as transnational institutions. By appealing to supranational economic rules, governments can disclose their own preferences for certain industrial policies and resist pressures to assist declining activities. To substantiate these claims the article proposes an archival investigation of the French government’s management of the steel industry between 1980 and 1984 and its support for a European Commission-led management of restructuring. The findings suggest that the pressures of the Commission played a crucial role in strengthening the government’s effort to implement socially unpopular but economically vital industrial choices.
Acknowledgements
I want to extend a big thank you to Ben Clift, Ben Richardson, Chris Rogers, Iain Pirie and Jack Copley for their very helpful feedback and advice. I am also very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their enlightening and generous comments which allowed me to sharpen my argument.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on Contributor
Alexis B. Moraitis completed his PhD at the University of Warwick, where he currently teaches. His research examines the politics of industrial restructuring in France between 1974 and 1984 and in particular the role of the state in managing the process of deindustrialisation.
Notes
1 I owe this formulation to one of the anonymous reviewers.
2 Continuous casting is an automatable technique that reduces by four the number of steps necessary to convert molten metal into solid material.
3 AN 19910818/31, Note for the Minister, 9/02/1979.
4 AN 19910818/32, Note for the Minister, December 1979.
5 Long products refer to such steel products as bars, rods, rails or sheet piles whereas flat products have smoother surfaces and consist of mainly steel plates, sheet and strips.
6 AN19910446/1, Note for Mr Bour, 18/09/1980.
7 AN19910446/1, Note for the Minister, 29/09/1980.
8 AN19910446/1, Note for the Minister, 29/09/1980.
9 AN19910446/1, Note for the Minister, 12/09/1980; AN19910446/1, Giraud to Ortoli, 24/09/1980.
10 AN19910446/1, Letter to the Ministry of the Economy, 25/09/1980.
11 AN19910446/1, Note: the propositions of the commission for the Council of the 7th October.
12 AN19910446, Note for the Director, 17/09/1980; AN19910446/1, European Council on Steel, 25/10/1980.
13 AN19910446/1, Letter to Davignon, 24/09/1980.
14 AN19910446/1, The reduction of steel production (art.58), 24/10/1980.
15 AN19910445/9, Reunion of the Economic and Social Council, 10/04/1979.
16 AN19910446, Telex on a confidential meeting, 1/10/1980.
17 AN19910818/27, Situation of French Steel, 1/06/1981.
18 AN19910818/27, Situation of French Steel, 1/06/1981.
19 Indicatively, French crude steel production stood at around 23.2 Mt in 1980 and 21 Mt in 1981 (INSEE Citation1982).
20 AN19870344/2, Note for Mr Mandil, 3/04/1982.
21 AN19910818/15, The Evolution of French Steel, 10/03/1983.
22 AN19870344/14, Note for the Minister, 23/03/1983.
23 AN19870344/14, Note for the Minister, 23/03/1983.
24 AN19870344/14, Note for the Minister, 23/03/1983.
25 AN19910818/15, The evolution of French Steel, 10 March 1983; AN19910818/15, Note for the Minister, 14/03/1983.
26 AN19860204/1, Assessment of the negotiations with unions, 10/02/1984.
27 AN19870344/14, Letter to the Prime Minister, 15/10/1983.
28 AN19910818/17, Note for Mr Schweitzer, 4/07/1983.
29 AN19910818/17, Note for Mr Schweitzer, 4/07/1983.
30 AN19870344/14, General secretary for regional affairs, Note for Mr Blanchard, 13/05/1983.
31 Electric steelmaking is a modern process of steel production whose advanatage lie in its high flexibility and energy-efficiency as steel is produced from recycled, scrap steel as opposed to iron ore.
32 AN19910818/15, The Evolution of French Steel, 10/03/1983.
33 AN19910818/17, Possible restructurings in steel, 24/02/1984; AN19870344/14, The new train of Gandrange, 10/01/1984.
34 AN19870344/14, Note for the Minister, 30/12/1983.
35 AN19910818/17, Cabinet of the MoI, Gandrange, 13/01/1984.
36 AN19870344/14, Note for the Minister, 30/12/1983.
37 AN19910818/17, Cabinet of the MoI, Gandrange, 13/01/1984.
38 AN19910818/18, Press Conference, 4/04/1984.
39 AN19910818/32, Sacilor, Administrative Council, 30/10/1984.
40 AN 19910818/32, Sacilor: Administrative Council, 25/07/1985.
41 AN 19910818/32, Sacilor: Administrative Council, 30/10/1984.
42 AN 19860204/1, Note, 10/02/1984, AN 19870344/14, Note:Unions’ Reactions, 16/02/1984.