This paper reassesses a number of observations made over fifty years ago regarding the corporatist structure of the senior civil service in France, by discussing this French particularity in a comparative perspective. Building on the work of Neil Fligstein, we propose a comparative theoretical framework to analyze senior civil service systems as administrative labour markets. We argue that administrative labor markets, as institutions, are the result of interactions between three collective actors: professional groups, administrative organizations, and politicians. We then elaborate three ideal-types of administrative labour markets and demonstrate how they can be used to compare the trajectories of institutionalization of senior civil service in various countries.