L'État des droits

The right to housing, patients' rights, equal rights and equal opportunities, the participation and citizenship of persons with disabilities, the right to a minimum income, etc.: the role of subjective rights has only grown in legislative importance, in both France and in other Western nations.

Can the State guarantee the reality of these new subjective rights? What capabilities can public actors deploy in order to implement them? How do new demands regarding individual rights help to transformation the modalities of State intervention and shift the borders of public action?

This volume examines the 'State of rights’ in different national contexts — in Belgium, Canada, France and Sweden — as well as in various public policy sectors such as disability, discrimination, health, housing, and education. It demonstrates how State institutions, though their daily practices, make or break individual rights. It pays special attention to the new organisations (Ombudsman, departmental handicapped homes [MDPH - maisons départementales des personnes handicapées], HALDE), which contribute to public policy outside of the legal arena, through mediation schemes and mechanisms for access to rights and rights issuance.

This book provides a detailed investigation of public policy regarding subjective rights, supported by insights from legal, sociological and political science perspectives.

Pierre-Yves Baudot is a lecturer in political science at the Université Versailles–Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Anne Revillard is an associate professor in sociology at Sciences Po.