According to my Hammond World Atlas, France is divided into ninety-six departments, of roughly equal size (including two on the island of Corsica). A more recent atlas, however, seems to indicate that France has restored, for the most part, the ancient provincial boundaries and scrapped the departments. What’s the deal?
BobT
October 20, 2002, 7:42am
2
France is divided into 22 regions and they are further subdivided into 96 departments.
Just depends how you want to slice everything up.
Well, the CIA World Fact Book - 2002 says:
Administrative divisions:
The Encyclopædia Britannica notes:
The régions régions . After a number of limited changes lasting two decades, a law of 1982 set up directly elected regional councils with the power to elect their executive. The 1982 law also devolved to the regional authorities many functions hitherto belonging to the central government, in particular in economic and social development, in education, and in cultural matters. The régions have gradually come to play a larger part in the administrative and political life of the country.
The région is to an extent in competition with the département , which was set up in 1790 and is still regarded by many as the main intermediate level of government. With the creation in 1964 of new départements in the Région Parisienne (Paris Region) and the dividing in two of Corsica in 1976, the number of départements reached 100: 96 in metropolitan France and 4 overseas (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Réunion). Each département is run by the General Council, which is elected for six years with one councillor per canton. There are between 13 and 70 cantons per département . The General Council is responsible for all the main departmental services: welfare, health, administration, and departmental employment. It also has responsibility for local regulations, manages public and private property, and votes on the local budget. A law passed in 1982 enhanced decentralization by increasing the powers and authority of the départements . Formerly, the chief executive of the département was the government-appointed prefect (préfet ), who also had strong powers over other local authorities. Since the 1982 law, however, the prefect is responsible only for preventing the actions of local authorities from going against national legislation.
(“Metropolitan France” is European France. The four overseas departments are analogous to Hawaii in being separated political entities with the same right of representation in parliament.)