Democratizing France: The Political and Administrative History of Decentralization

419 Pages·2007·11 MB·English

by  Vivien A. Schmidt

DEMOCRATIZING FRANCE

DEMOCRATIZING
FRANCE
The political and administrative history of
decentralization
VIVIEN A. SCHMIDT
University of Massachusetts
at Boston
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© Cambridge University Press 1990
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the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1990
This digitally printed first paperback version 2007
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Schmidt, Vivien Ann, 1949-
Democratizing France : the political and administrative history of
decentralization / Vivien A. Schmidt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-521-39156-3
1. Decentralization in government — France — History. 2. Local
government - France - History. I. Title.
JS4895.S36 1990
354.4407'3-dc20 90-1639
CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-39156-6 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-39156-3 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-03605-4 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-03605-4 paperback
Contents
Preface page ix
PART I
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF
DECENTRALIZATION FROM THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT
Introduction: When political interest leads to disinterested
politics 3
1 The legislative history of recurring centralization from the
French Revolution to the Third Republic 10
The triumph of decentralization from before 1789 to
1815 12
The continuing history of centralization between 1815
and 1871 25
2 The triumph of decentralization during the Third
Republic 41
The legislative debates on decentralization 43
Continuing decentralization in the Third Republic and
recentralization under the Vichy regime 60
3 The unsuccessful push for decentralization from the
Fourth Republic through the conservative Fifth Republic 70
The Fourth Republic's return to the status quo ante 72
The consistent failure of reform efforts in de Gaulle's
Fifth Republic JJ
The slowdown of reform initiatives in the conservative
Fifth Republic after de Gaulle 91
Contents
4 Legislating decentralization in the administration of
local government: The reforms of the Socialist Fifth
Republic 105
The passage of the framework law of March 1982 107
The transfer of executive powers and the end of the
tutelie 115
The transfer of administrative functions and civil service
reform 120
The transfer of financial resources 132
5 Legislating decentralization in the politics of local
government 138
The new legislation focused on local politics 140
Toward a new electoral balance? 152
PART II
THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON LOCAL
POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION
Introduction: When informal rules become formal roles 181
6 When informal rules counter formal roles: Local
government before the Socialist reforms of the Fifth
Republic 187
The institutions and processes of local government from
the Third Republic to the Fifth Republic 188
The local politico-administrative system 207
7 Rhetoric versus reality in local government: Local politics
and administration before the Socialist Fifth Republic 222
The rhetoric of centralization 223
The rhetoric of nonpartisanship 247
8 When informal rules become formal roles: The new
pluralism in the institutions and processes of local
government 264
The new politics in the periphery 267
The new decentralized dirigisme in local economic
development 289
9 Unblocking society by decree: The transformation of the
politico-administrative system 310
Changing the politico-administrative system 312
Changing the roles, rules, and relationships 316
VI
Contents
10 A new rhetoric and a new reality in local government:
Local politics and administration in the Socialist Fifth
Republic and beyond 342
The new rhetoric of the limits of decentralization 344
The new rhetoric of good management and the
politicization of the periphery 371
Conclusion 389
Bibliography 393
Index 399
Vll

Preface
In recent years, decentralization has become extremely popular as a
means of governmental reform, with national governments around the
world seeking to devolve more power and responsibility to local govern-
ments in efforts to encourage greater political participation and democ-
racy and to increase administrative efficiency and costs. In this, France
has been no exception. But the way in which the Socialists in power from
1981 to 1986 went about decentralization was exceptional indeed. In-
stead of the usual piecemeal reforms leading to gradual change, the Social-
ists "revolutionized" center-periphery relations by redefining the role of
the state in the periphery and giving extensive new powers to territorial
units of government through a series of laws that by 1986 encompassed
over forty laws and close to three hundred decrees.
Most scholars of French politics and administration were taken com-
pletely by surprise by the Socialists' decentralizing reforms. And under-
standably so. Since the French Revolution, the legislative history had
been one of endless parliamentary debates and countless failed initiatives.
The only lasting, major decentralizing reform of the local governmental
system was already close to a century old, having been passed at the
beginning of the Third Republic. Although it had ended the century-old
pattern of recurring centralization begun with the French Revolution, it
had restricted itself to making the mayor an elected official and the
executive power in the communes, or municipalities. Centralization re-
mained in the person of the prefect and in the formal and legal institu-
tions of local administration, even though decentralization was neverthe-
less ever present in the informal process of local government, promoted
by the relationship of complicity between prefects and local elected offi-
cials that permitted the latter to engage in a rhetoric that hid their infor-
mal power and influence from public view. In short, local officials' basic
satisfaction with the local politico-administrative system as it was, com-
bined with the long history of piecemeal, failed attempts at reform by
IX