ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the constitutional picture of this dispersed ensemble, but focuses on the recent experience of regional reforms in the four overseas departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Reunion in particular. The overseas reality of France has been strongly influenced by its colonial history. For the territories which had chosen to remain within the French Republic, there were three possibilities open to them under article 76 of the new Constitution: to keep the status of territoires d’outre-mer (TOM) as defined by article 74c; to adopt the status of Member State of the French Community, or to become a departements d outre-mer. The TOM was an administrative organization, a type of collectivite territoriale, as were the municipalities and departments. The intrinsically evolutionary character of the TOM organizes them according to the principle of ‘legislative specificity’ under Article 74c of the Constitution.
