ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the possible conditions for a reform of territorial powers, which would create urban governments in a country, France, where such a project encounters a deep-rooted centralist tradition. It suggests that, whether addressed directly or indirectly, territorial reorganisation of powers is a major political issue. The chapter examines the logic behind a possible reform of the existing system. It looks at the oppositions raised by the transformations under consideration. The two viewpoints allow us to characterise institutional change as both legitimate and improbable. A city is an urban society which accepts and organises its diversity to function as a dynamic system. What is really common to these assertions is the rejection of politics. The Rousseauean faction of the Enlightenment chooses natural law over justice, justice over democracy and democracy over politics. The chapter concludes by comparing them in the light of the third stance of the research scientist delivering messages concerning politics.
