KERROUCHE, Éric

Totems et tabous : le corps préfectoral, l'État et le secteur public - Paris : IIAP, oct./déc. 2000

Definitions of the State given by French prefects and under-prefects reveal the omnipresence of an institution, the aims of which are broadly interpreted: the State is an institution which protects, defends and ensures a harmonious society. The State is a force able to impose itself whenever the notion of the public sector comes into play, even if prefects are also called to take into account the idea of the provate sector. The result is that prefects employ a modernist discourse, underlining the archaic, if not the weighty, nature of the administration, while still defending its human and egalitarian dimension