The contractualisation of relationships between the State and Territorial Collectivities

The development of contractual technique between the State and local authorities in France is an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of their relationship. The contractualisation of relationship between the State and local governments (territorial contractualisation) has become the symbol of an unfinished decentralization, halfway between a model based on principles of the Jacobins and another model based on partnership or the idea of co-administration. Territorial contractualisation appears as an opportunity to transcend this difficulty. It is based primarily on the implementation of soft law techniques, as administrative agreements, even if the legal recognition is not currently accomplished. This circumstance is likely to mislead the territorial contracts for an instrument additional supervision for the benefit of the State. The territorial contractualisation is thus diverted from its original purpose : to organize the state - local government relationship in a new context. Indeed, the crisis of public finances associated with an unprecedented political and legal globalization requires a major adaptation of French institutional structures which remains the linchpin state - local government relationship. Territorial contractualisation appears to be the only tool able to absorb all of these new settings to build a state - local government relationship with the principles on which it is supposed to be based.