engleski

Decentralisation in France: An Ongoing Process of Incremental Change

In the first part of the paper the author describes local-self government system in France. France is widely known for having reasonable quickly moved away from being one of Europe's most centralised States to one in which a significant number of responsibilities have been devolved to regional and local government. Special focus is given to the number and type of territorial units.Various institutional forms of intermunicipal cooperation have countered the traditonal problem of municipal fragmentation. The second part of paper provides an overview of the decentralization process in France from its beggining in the 1980s until today.The landmark reforms of 1982-1983 and of 2003-2004 are meticulously described. Decentralization has radically changed the role of the prefects, created regional governments and upgraded the role of other local authorities.Principles of partnership and subsidiarity now underlie politico-administrative system. The decentralisation process has proved to have a long-lasting and significant impact on the system of central-local relations in France. Nonetheless, there is still a sense that the process is incomplete.

decentralisation; local government; France; intermunicipal cooperation

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