ABSTRACT
It should be recalled at the outset that France, as a unitary and centralised state, has operated for over a century under a government, headed by a prime minister, which determines national policy. This organisational set-up has, at the administrative level, a roughly vertical command structure, leading from ministers at the top, through the so-called ‘central’ administrations (i.e. the offices of the ministries), to the decentralised services at the bottom. Although transfer of powers to local authorities has been gaining ground since 1982 in areas immediately affecting the general public (transfer of health and social services to the local departmental councils (Conseils généraux), and transfer of vocational training and local economic development to the regions), these authorities are nevertheless subject to the laws and regulations of the Republic, which are prepared by the government. The prefects, the state’s representatives at local level, are responsible for ensuring compliance from all local authorities within their jurisdiction (the ‘departments’). However, mayors, the quintessential local elected representatives, may also be required to take action on behalf of the state, that is in the place of a minister. This happens, for example, with regard to the issue of identity papers or the keeping of registers of births, deaths and marriages, which serve as evidence not only of an individual’s existence but also of the principal landmarks in his or her life (marriage, divorce, parenthood and death).
