Economic Crisis and Territorial Differentiation: Regions and Metropolitan Cities in French Decentralization

Has the economic crisis recentralized decentralization? The hypothesis advanced here is a surge of dynamics of metropolization and regionalization under the pressure of convergence norms coming from the European Union (EU). However, depending on the region, the convergence processes use different institutional and political paths, drawing a strong differentiation of territorial configurations in France. In Brittany, the regional model has dominated gradually. In Île-de-France, a powerful metropolization is institutionalizing under pressure from the central state, while the metropolitan situation in Rhône-Alpes seems to compete with if not supplant a regionalization at the crossroads.