June 1, 2009 
Author: Béatrice Giblin
Abstract: Decentralization process consists in the transfer of competences from the central level towards the sub-national levels.Regional decentralization represents one of the paths of involving the French subnational authorities and it is regarded as a fundamental strategy of transferring responsibilities from the central administration to the lower levels of governance. The paper analyzes the decentralization process in the French state, emphasizing of the reforms promoted inthe time framework 2003-2004, focusing on the competences granted to the regions and other administrative authorities,like the intercommunality which is considered to be one of the successes of this complex decentralization and consolidation process of the administrative capacity of the communal authorities. The reform advanced in 2008, which aims at removing the departmental level, is also analyzed by evaluating its advantages and disadvantages and by highlighting the main obstacles in front of the reform: institutional resistance and local identity.
Keywords: democracy, decentralization, intercommunality, regional identity, regionalization process