State restructuring and decentralisation dynamics in France : politics is the driving force by Gilles Pinson, Université Jean Monnet in Saint-Etienne & Patrick Le Galès, Directeur de recherche CNRS au CEE, RTN URBeurope
State rescaling is only one dimension of state restructuring. In France as elsewhere
in Europe, state rescaling takes different forms, for instance : decentralisation
reforms and institutional, territorialisation of public policies, financial pressure on local
and regional governments, the development of territorial policies aiming at fostering
growth, policies to deal, control, support the poors, new urban policies, whatever that
means, Europeanisation of segments of the state, debates about territorial and fiscal
redistribution, pressure to limit spatial and regional differentiation, increased political
competition and cooperation between level, reforms of state bureaucracies, the rise
of horizontal European networks, the strenghtening of the core executive of the state
(such as the Ministry of finance), the changing goals (both territorial dimension and
types of firms) of industrial policies……..
Within the limits of this paper, we only examine the most spectacular element of the
rescaling of the French state, ie decentralisation reforms and their dynamics. Download Cahier N°7