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Since the 1970s, numerous reforms have been aimed at transforming French hospitals in response to challenges or what experts or the media present as “crises.” This article identifies some of the key arguments behind these reforms, as well as the main directions they have taken. It also gives a few examples illustrating the diversity of professional reactions to these reforms, and calls for a detailed analysis of relations between managers and doctors, as well as the determinants of cooperation and conflict between stakeholders in the hospital system.