Contenu du sommaire : Le processus de la réforme locale dans les pays industrialisés.

The process of municipal reform in FRG. Until recent times the autonomy of local authorities was based upon the exercise of constitutional principles guaranteeing freedom. At present, problems of local politics tend to be seen as administrative. The various types and levels of administration tend to be reduced to functional differences according to criteria of government and administrative technique. This leads the author to ask whether, even taking into account the legitimate demands of law and social service, the self-management of local authorities is not being deprived of its specific political foundation.

Local government in England and Wales : 1957-1980. The author describes the process of reform in local government in England and Wales. He shows the context in which the reform was started in 1957, and how it was worked out. He analyses its development, showing the obstacles it encountered and the issues which it brought into debate.

Reform In Belgian Local Government Since 1960. It is still not known whether in Belgium the municipal reform will lead to a new division of tasks between central and local authorities. Though there has been no lack of declarations of principle, it is nevertheless clear that there has been no real decentralization of powers in favor of the territorially enlarged communes.

The process of municipal reform within the framework of the development of the state in Quebec. The authors analyse the process of reform of municipal administration, relating it to the context of growth in Quebec. They show in particular that Act 125, passed in December 1975, providing for the generalisation of regional county municipalities, would seem to be the logical consequence of the process and change through which Quebec society has gone in the last 20 years.

The process of local reform in Spain. In spite of strong resistance stemming from the past, and of the fact that changes in local government are very recent, noteworthy efforts have already been made, in particular as regards an increase in local autonomy. However, only time will tell whether the modifications will be effective, and whether they will be able to call into question the established order as a whole.

The process of reform of local authorities in France. Have we, in France, a process of reform or a permanent non-reform ? The authors find the latter to be the case, and attempt to discover the reasons for this situation. They show that in the process which is taking place history and politics are progressively ousting geography and economies. There is a break in the communication between the parties to the negotiation, who are not speaking the same language. There is not, in the process of reform pursued by the Government, a single System of decision, but two (one for the overall design, one for management) ; the delays and adjustments — the permanent non-reform — tend to promote certain changes in the social structuring of the field in which decisions are to be made. It is the failure of the initial ambitions of the government reform which in fact constitute the process of regulation.

The process of local reform in Italy : 1960-1980. The reforms accomplished in the last twenty years work successively in two opposing directions : towards increased centralisation from 1960 to 1970, and towards increased decentralisation from 1970 to 1980. During both these periods the central issue in debate was the reorganisation of local authority and the constitution of an “intermediary body” between the commune and the region. But twenty years of discussion have given rise only to partial reforms and not to a general reorganisation of local government.

Local government and the welfare state structural and functional reforms in Norway since 1945. The author analyses the categories of reform in Norwegian local government : structural reforms, concerning territorial division and organisation ; functional reforms, concerning a new distribution of functions between central and local authorities. He points out in particular the complex nature of the process of functional reform, which ran into stiff opposition from the central bureaucracy.

Local Government Reform In The Netherlands. After describing the history of local government in the Netherlands, the author expresses the opinion that reform is now required on the local and regional levels. If attempts at reform have so far not been successful, this is, according to the author, not because of practical errors within the System of government, but because of the obvious lack of an overall policy for administrative reform. Lacking a clearly defined policy of this sort, the reform undertaken in the Netherlands boils down to a set of expedients.