Democratizing France: The Political and Administrative History of Decentralization PDF
Preview Democratizing France: The Political and Administrative History of Decentralization
DEMOCRATIZING FRANCE DEMOCRATIZING FRANCE The political and administrative history of decentralization VIVIEN A. SCHMIDT University of Massachusetts at Boston The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge New York Port Chester Melbourne Sydney CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521391566 © Cambridge University Press 1990 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without 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
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