ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of decentralisation or (re)centralisation in relation to our study of long-term care policies. Decentralisation can be a fuzzy concept to deal with, due to diverse interpretations especially in a comparative context. Political decentralisation denotes authority which spreads out from the central governmental level to elected politicians at other territorial levels. Administrative decentralisation refers to instances where the recipients for the "spreading out" of authority are managers and administrators. The chapter focuses on political (de)centralisation, and the vertical relationship between national and sub-national territorial governmental levels. Provincial government, forming part of the sub-national territorial authorities in France, is also dependent on funding from the National Solidarity for Autonomy Fund. In addition, however, the "constitutional autonomy principle" in France involves that transfer of national resources to sub-national governments requires sub-national contribution of "own resources" through taxation, fees and other income.
