Research on the direct/indirect democracy reforms at the Public Establishments of Intercommunal Cooperation in France

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26380178
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Aichi Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: NAKATA Shinji 愛知県立大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (60363909)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 自治体間協力型広域行政組織 / フランス / リール / レンヌ / 開発評議会 / 自治体広域連合

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In France, broadening of communes (the basic municipality in France) has been done in the institutional framework of “intercommunality” called “Etablissement Public de Cooperation Intercommunale a fiscalite propre” (EPCI) rather than a merger of communes. Indeed, since the 1960s, EPCI with tax autonomy has expanded its number and influence, but the lack of democratic control by residents has been pointed out about their managements.
In this research, I will grasp the response to this problem in France as "the (direct / indirect) democratic reform of EPCI", we particularly considered the following two attempts: (1) Reform of the election system of the community council of intercommunality; (2) participatory democratic organization called “conseil de developpement”. Especially for the attempt of (2), we revealed the actual situation through field survey in the metropolis (metropole) of Lille and Rennes.

Free Research Field

政治学