Text
French
ID: <
hdl:/2441/11pqmcmc9t868a5ktcb132sons>
Abstract
While the issue of expertise has been massively investigated by scholars since the late 1990s, the « politically committed experts » who are active members of a party remain largely unstudied. This article, based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 196 economists, analyses the sociology and role of those who constructed the French Socialist Party’s economic programme and discourse during the 1970s, when the party led by François Mitterrand aimed to seize power. It shows that contrary to the clichés disseminated through the media, high-level civil servants did not have a monopoly of expertise within this organization. It also highlights that the socialist economic experts’ work had to follow the strategical framework defined by the party’s most prominent politicians.