The Socialist Reorganization of French Local Government—Another Jacobin Reform?

Abstract

The problem addressed is whether or not the Socialist reorganization under President Mitterrand of French local government constituted a Jacobin reform. The passage of the loi Defferre (the law on the rights and liberties of the communes, departments, and regions) through the National Assembly and the Senate is discussed. This law outlines the legal foundations of the new local political structure in France. It impinges on three major policy problems that involve local government, but which also have direct consequences for competitive national policies, namely, fiscal and tax policy, public investment policy, and planning. It is shown that what have often been interpreted as Jacobin tendencies in French government may be no different than the concentration of policy power in many areas of policymaking in all modern welfare states. The difference in France is that local government has such an influential role in many key economic activities of the State.