Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF DECENTRALIZATION FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT
- PART II THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON LOCAL POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION
- Introduction: When informal rules become formal roles
- 6 When informal rules counter formal roles: Local government before the Socialist reforms of the Fifth Republic
- 7 Rhetoric versus reality in local government: Local politics and administration before the Socialist Fifth Republic
- 8 When informal rules become formal roles: The new pluralism in the institutions and processes of local government
- 9 Unblocking society by decree: The transformation of the politico-administrative system
- 10 A new rhetoric and a new reality in local government: Local politics and administration in the Socialist Fifth Republic and beyond
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - When informal rules counter formal roles: Local government before the Socialist reforms of the Fifth Republic
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF DECENTRALIZATION FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT
- PART II THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON LOCAL POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION
- Introduction: When informal rules become formal roles
- 6 When informal rules counter formal roles: Local government before the Socialist reforms of the Fifth Republic
- 7 Rhetoric versus reality in local government: Local politics and administration before the Socialist Fifth Republic
- 8 When informal rules become formal roles: The new pluralism in the institutions and processes of local government
- 9 Unblocking society by decree: The transformation of the politico-administrative system
- 10 A new rhetoric and a new reality in local government: Local politics and administration in the Socialist Fifth Republic and beyond
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
With decentralization in the Third Republic, the mayor gained a measure of political power in the local community that served as a counter to the prefect's administrative control. As a result of this, the mayor along with the other local political worthies over time developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the prefect, one in which the prefect tended to protect the locality from the incursions of the center and to allow the mayor and the other notables much behind-the-scenes influcence in exchange for their cooperation. This “complicity” between prefects and notables in the periphery, however, went for the most part unnoticed by scholars – with a few notable exceptions – until quite recently. Scholars had a tendency to listen to the rhetoric of formal centralization, which often hid the reality of informal decentralization from view. And instead of considering the significance of the mayor's position as an elected official, most scholars focused on trends such as the continuing manifestations of state centralization in the powers of the prefect, the extension of the state's field services in the periphery, and the diminution of the powers of the mayor due to the professionalization of the civil service and to the increasing complexities of modern life. In short, although the series of decentralizing laws between 1871 and 1884 effectively ended the recurrent pattern of centralization of local governments, most scholars downplayed the importance of these reforms until recently.
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- Information
- Democratizing FranceThe Political and Administrative History of Decentralization, pp. 187 - 221Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991