" The article studies international exchanges during the first half of the 20th century aimed at elaborating an administrative science. These exchanges have for a long while seemed too technical or too practical to arouse much interest; the author considers them here from the point of view of their intellectual coherence. Administrative science refers to as much as it goes along with the transformation in relationships between political, economic, and social matters. The article observes these changes from an international point of view, emphasising an international milieu of academics and high-level civil servants dedicated to state and administrative reform. "