Politique Internationale — How did the Insurance and Society chair come about? What are its main objectives?
Raymond Dartevelle — This chair was created in 2015 as a result of collaboration between the University of Paris 1 Panthéon- Sorbonne and the Fédération française de l’assurance (formerly the FFSA), which has since become France Assureurs. The idea was to build a multidisciplinary programme capable of giving historical depth to the sector’s contemporary issues, whereas most university or Grandes Ecoles chairs, specialising in economics, management, finance, actuarial science, mathematics applied to insurance, etc., are mainly geared towards analysing the present and the near future. In short, this is a work setting all fields of research into perspective, while also integrating aspects of memory and heritage. It takes into account recent historiographical contributions or from which the history of insurance has benefited, in particular the concept of ‘Global History’, which focuses on interaction and international links, as well as the analysis of organisational structures and development strategies, as practised in ‘Business History’.
P. I. — Generally speaking, how does the university view the insurance sector?
R. D. — In reality, and if we look at this question from an earlier date, the creation of insurance courses and chairs most often corresponds to an institutional desire to respond to societal demand, or even to a reshaping of the political and economic landscape. For example, in 1927, at a time when the draft French law on social insurance was giving rise to debate and controversy, the Chair of Social Insurance and Welfare, created at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) in 1900, was transformed into a Chair of General Theory of Insurance and Social Welfare. It was entrusted to the actuary René Risser, a polytechnicien and a great connoisseur of the German social protection system. Other examples include the creation in 1946, under the aegis of the CNAM, of the École nationale des assurances (ÉNAss). This was one of the pillars of the post-war reorganisation of the insurance landscape, with the establishment of the Conseil national des assurances and the nationalisation of more than thirty insurance companies. In the early 1930s, against a backdrop of economic crisis, an Institut Supérieur de Science Financière et d’Assurances (ISFA) was set up under the auspices of the Lyon faculties. Specialising in training in actuarial sciences, it is still in operation today. Looking further afield, it is interesting to note that unlike the Anglo-Saxon approach, which is based on learning professional expertise, the German-speaking world is dominated by academic, multi-disciplinary training (legal, mathematical, economic, medical, etc.). This model, which dates back to the end of the 19th century, has contributed to Germany’s commercial expansion and the international development of insurance science.
P. I. — Why has insurance been neglected by historians for so long?
R. D. — There are at least two good reasons for this. Firstly, as the economist Jean Fourastié, holder of the chair at the CNAM where he taught, pointed out in his book …