The State and management of partnership arrangements in France: an analysis of the implementation of the ‘Sport, Health and Well-being’ plan

International audienceIn France, the national ‘Sport, Health, and Well-being’ programme (Programme sport, santé, bien-être – PSSBE) aims to develop an active way of life in a country where physical inactivity is becoming increasingly prevalent. While its implementation is based on an inter-ministerial approach whereby responsibility is given to the local government personnel of the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Health, numerous studies have shown that the complexity of the State machine and the compartmentalisation of its departments may have a negative impact on the success of this process. In addition, due to recent State reforms, government agents are also faced with numerous changes which affect their working conditions. Based on the results of a survey conducted in a French region via semi-structured interviews held with the agents of these two ministerial bodies, we demonstrate that although the implementation of the PSSBE has helped to institutionalise the inter-ministerial partnership, it also exacerbates the difficulty caused by these reforms: that of reconciling the missions of territorial departments with the resources allocated to them. These observations reflect the risk that the work of the network built around sport and health issues may be brought to a standstill