When the Socialists passed decentralizing legislation from 1982 to 1986 that redefined the role of the state in the periphery and gave extensive new powers to territorial units of government, they fulfilled one of the last imperatives of the French Revolution. The history of decentralization over the previous two centuries had not been a very successful one. Only once before the Socialist reforms, one hundred years ago during the beginning years of the Third Republic, had Parliament passed significant, lasting decentralizing legislation. Before the Third Republic, the legislative pattern was one of recurring centralization, which from the first years of the Revolution consisted of short periods of decentralization in times of governmental crisis followed by long periods of recentralization in times of relative governmental stability. Between the laws passed at the beginning of the Third Republic and those at the beginning of the Socialist Fifth Republic, although the century-old pattern of recurring centralization did end, formal decentralization itself did not advance much; the legislative history was one of endless parliamentary debates and countless failed initiatives on an ever expanding list of reforms.

However, each time Parliament did pass decentralizing legislation, no matter how minor it might have been in terms of the formal exercise of power, local autonomy and political participation increased, producing local elected officials who were more representative of, and responsive to, the local electorate.