La politique familiale allemande : les limites de l'action de l'État
Anne Salles
Germany has been undergoing a serious demographic
crisis for the past 30 years, but the state continues to have trouble embarking on an active family policy. A particular challenge is that it must distinguish itself both from the national socialist past as well as the GDR’s
interventionist policy, while taking into account a German cultural specificity: the ongoing preponderance of the mother’s role in the upbringing of
her children. These historical and cultural factors to a large extent determine
the limits that the state imposes on its own action. They also explain the very
rationale behind current family policy: to let individuals take the fore and
respect their choices. Thus the state strives to remain neutral by privileging
the subsidiarity principle and financial transfers to the detriment of measures
designed to reconcile work and family. Such a course, however, ends up
influencing individuals’ choices. In fact, the objective of neutrality turns out
to be impossible to achieve and contributes indirectly to being a disadvantage
for families.
• Le poids de l'Histoire
• La mère indigne
• Sur quelques principes de la politique familiale
— La subsidiarité
— La neutralité
— Concilier travail et famille
• Les conséquences d’une politique familiale restreinte
• Une volonté de changement ?