Pension politics in France: Patterns of co‐operation and conflict in two recent reforms

This article looks at the political side of pension reform in France. Policy makers are caught between two contrasting pressures: increasing expenditure on the one hand, and strong public support for existing arrangements on the other. In the last few years, the government has attempted to deal with the issue on two occasions, with rather different results. First, in 1993 a pension reform was successfully adopted after negotiations with the unions. Later, in 1995 the government had to abandon plans for a second reform as a result of a massive union‐led protest movement. The article argues that the different fortunes of the two reforms are related to changes in the configuration of power between the two events. It also claims that the popularity of current pension arrangements constitutes a strong pressure on the government to adopt a negotiated solution to the pension problem.