Regional Governance and Power in France: The Dynamics of Political Space

233 Pages·2015·2.113 MB·English

by  Romain Pasquier (auth.)

Regional Governance and Power in France
FrenchPolitics,SocietyandCulture
GeneralEditor:JocelynEvans,ProfessorofPolitics,UniversityofLeeds,UK.
Francehasalwaysfascinatedoutsideobservers.Nowthecountryisundergoingaperiodofprofound
transformation.FranceisfacedwitharapidlychanginginternationalandEuropeanenvironment
anditishavingtorethinksomeofitsmostbasicsocial,politicalandeconomicorthodoxies.Aselse-
where,thereispressuretoconform.Andyet,whileFranceisrespondinginwaysthatarenodoubt
familiartopeopleinotherEuropeancountries,itisalsomanagingtomaintainelementsofitslong-
standingdistinctiveness.Overall,itremainsaplacethatisnotexactlycommelesautres.
ThisnewseriesexaminesallaspectsofFrenchpolitics,societyandculture.Insodoingitfocuseson
thechangingnatureoftheFrenchsystemaswellastheestablishedpatternsofpolitical,socialand
culturallife.Contributorstotheseriesareencouragedtopresentnewandinnovativearguments
sothattheinformedreadercanlearnandunderstandmoreaboutoneofthemostbeguilingand
compellingofallEuropeancountries.
Titlesinclude:
DavidS.Bell,JohnGaffney(editors)
THEPRESIDENTSOFTHEFRENCHFIFTHREPUBLIC
JocelynEvans,GillesIvaldi
THE2012FRENCHPRESIDENTIALELECTIONS
TheInevitableAlternative
JohnGaffney
POLITICALLEADERSHIPINFRANCE
FromCharlesdeGaulletoNicolasSarkozy
ImogenLong
WOMENINTELLECTUALSINPOST-68FRANCE
PetitionsandPolemics
GinoG.Raymond(editor)
THESARKOZYPRESIDENCY
BreakingtheMould?
DavidS.BellandByronCriddle
EXCEPTIONALSOCIALISTS
TheCaseoftheFrenchSocialistParty
JeremyAhearne
GOVERNMENTTHROUGHCULTUREANDTHECONTEMPORARYFRENCHRIGHT
RomainPasquier
REGIONALGOVERNANCEANDPOWERINFRANCE
TheDynamicsofPoliticalSpace
FrenchPolitics,SocietyandCulture
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Regional Governance and
Power in France
The Dynamics of Political Space
Romain Pasquier
ProfessorandDirectorofResearch,Centrederecherchessurl’actionpolitiqueenEurope
(CRAPE),SciencesPoRennes,France
©RomainPasquier2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-48445-1
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Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
Introduction:RegionsandtheDynamicsofPoliticalSpace 1
Socialsciencesandtheregion 2
Theregionasaunitofanalysisofpoliticalchange 7
Spaceandregionalpower 10
Part I TheRegionasaSpaceofMobilisation
1 RegionalismandtheConstructionofIdentity 19
Therepublicannarrativeorthedenialofdistinctive
identities 20
Thereinventionoftheregions 26
Differentiatingidentityinregionalspace 34
2 RegionalismandPoliticalCompetition 39
Conservativeregionalismandtherepublicanproject 39
Regionalismasminoritynationalism 43
RegionalismintheFrenchlocalpoliticalsystem 49
Part II TheRegionasFunctionalSpace
3 RegionalisationandPoliciesofTerritorialJustice 61
Centralismandregionaleconomicdevelopment 62
Territorialplanninganddevelopment,andtheFrench
approachtoregionalisation 69
TheEuropeanUnionandthechangingscaleofterritorial
justice 80
4 RegionalisationandTerritorialStateReforms 86
Theregionanddecentralisation 87
Regionalresourcesandstatus 96
Lookingbothways:Theregionaspoliticaland
administrativeentity 110
Part III TheRegionasSpaceofGovernance
5 RegionsandEuropeanGovernance 123
Europeanintegration,regionalgovernanceandeffects
ofscale 124
v
vi Contents
Europeannormsandregionalisationofpublicpolicy 128
Proactiveregionalstrategies 136
6 RegionsandTerritorialGovernance 146
Regionalpowerandthemanagementofinterdependence 146
Regionalpowerandthetutelaryfigureofthestate 163
Conclusion:RegionalPowerandTerritorialDifferentiation 172
Theparametersofterritorialpolicychange 172
Regionalpowerandmodelsofgovernance 176
AFranceofdifferences 182
Notes 184
Bibliography 202
Index 217
Illustrations
Figures
I.1 Exogenouspoliticalchange:Theregionasanobjectof
research 8
I.2 Endogenouspoliticalchange:Theregionassubjectof
research 9
Maps
1.1 Mapoftheadministrativeandtaxdistrictsin
seventeenthcenturyFrance 23
3.1 Clémentel’sproposedregions(1917) 64
3.2 The21regionsofFranceinthe1956–1970programme 74
4.1 Proposalsforanewregionalmap(25July2014) 89
Tables
I.1 Typesofregionalism 12
I.2 Typesofregionalisation 13
I.3 Theparametersofregionalpower 15
1.1 The‘Moreno’identityscalein14regionsofEurope(2009) 37
2.1 Theregionalist/nationalistvoteinBrittanyandCorsicaat
theregionalelections(1986–2010) 53
4.1 BudgetsofFrenchregions(1993–2009) 99
4.2 Divisionofareasofresponsibilitybetweenlocal
authoritiesandthestate(2012) 104
6.1 ItemisedFrenchregionalbudget(2009) 148
6.2 Citizens’expectationsofregionalisation 168
6.3 Economicandinterregionalsolidarity 169
C.1 Typologyofregionalpower 181
vii
Introduction: Regions and the
Dynamics of Political Space
At the end of the 1990s the decline of the old European nation-state
seemedinexorable.BertrandBadie(1995)proclaimedtheendofterrito-
ries;or,ratherthecrisisofterritorywithintheconstructionofthestate.
MichaelKeating(1998)announcedtheemergenceofanewregionalism
inwesternEuropeattheintersectionofdecentralisation,Europeaninte-
gration and economic globalisation. So where are we today, at the
beginning of the twenty-first century? Processes of decentralisation,
devolution and federalisation are being pursued almost everywhere.
A number of indicators even point to a hardening of relationships in
Europe between the centre and the periphery. Belgium seems to be
locked into linguistic guerrilla warfare between the Flemish and the
Walloons, the outcome of which directly challenges the institutional
futureofthecountry.InSpain,asymbolicreferendumhas,forthefirst
time,broughttheindependenceofCataloniaintothelimelight1 Inthe
UK in 2007, Alex Salmond became the first nationalist to head up the
autonomousScottishgovernment,withthestatedintentionofleading
his nation towards independence. In Italy the Northern League took
political control of two important Italian regions in 2010: Veneto and
Piedmont. Nor has France escaped similar tensions. In the autumn of
2013, a vast social and identity movement, the so-called Red Bonnet
protest, once again called into question the capacity of the republican
modeltointegrateitsterritories,particularlyBrittany.2
However, other factors point to a shift in the direction of territorial
dynamics on the European scale. The Europe of regions thus remains
an unfulfilled prophecy. This is not to suggest that European policies
nolongerinfluenceregionaldynamics(Elias2008);however,aseriesof
studies have shown that the impact of the process of Europeanisation
remains highly variable depending on the member states and regions
1
2 RegionalGovernanceandPowerinFrance
studied (Börzel 2002; Pasquier 2004). Elsewhere the state in Europe is
in the process of restructuring its aims, its organisation and its regula-
tory instruments (Bezès 2009; King and Le Galès 2011). Although less
physically present in the regions, state bureaucracy nonetheless con-
structs new ways of governing at a distance via normative, fiscal or
neo-managerial tools for steering urban and regional politics remotely
(Eipstein 2009; Pinson 2009). The state would appear once again to be
playing a central role in European territorial governance. The often-
repeated error is to consider territorial governance as a zero-sum game
in which the state loses what the metropolitan areas or the regions
gain.Yettheregion,3 likeanyterritory,mustbeconsideredasaprotean
space, criss-crossed by the dynamics of cultural, economic and politi-
cal change. Institutional state policies, as well as regional institutions,
regionalist mobilisations or the strategies of private actors play a part
intheinstitutionalisationofregionalspaces,whosecultural,functional
and political limits are regularly challenged by the actors who occupy
them.However,theregionshouldbeconsideredasdifferentfromother
emergingpoliticalspaces–suchasthemetropolitanarea–becauseithas
thepotentialtocompetedirectlywiththeexistingstatestructure.Cer-
tainregions’abilitytomobiliseidentitymeansthattheresearchermust
takeaparticularapproachtothesocialconstructionofterritorialiden-
tities and how they are used in political action and public policy. The
region is at the intersection of changes in identity, and of democratic
and economic transformations, which affect contemporary European
societies.Onthisbasis,itisparticularlyusefultoanalysechangeatthe
regional scale. Taking the region as its starting point, and tracing the
differentstagesofregionalinstitutionalisation,thisbookthereforeaims
to chart the development of territorial governance both in France and
morewidelyinEurope.
Socialsciencesandtheregion
In a context of increasingly dense political and economic interdepen-
dencies, the region – just like the urban area (Le Galès 2003) – is
today central to our thinking on new ways of managing societies. The
processes of economic globalisation, European integration and decen-
tralisation which are being played out across Europe have sparked a
number of debates within the social sciences on the regional ques-
tion. Two key questions have emerged which have become the subject
of lively controversy: firstly, that of new spaces of economic and
socialregulation;secondly,thedynamicsofterritorialisationandpower
sharing.