ABSTRACT
This chapter purposes the deconcentration refers to the dislocation of central organs of power or institutions to the periphery; decentralisation refers to the maintenance of political power at the centre and the concession of administrative competencies to the periphery for the better local implementation of the political decisions taken at the centre. While autonomy implies a context in which political power is shared by the centre and the periphery. instruments for the construction of the Portuguese unitary state. Throughout the ages, Portugal experienced, of course, a plurality of regimes, all with a common centralist subsoil. Portugal was to be organised in regions, but of two different species: the first would be political and legislative, while the second would be administrative. In Portugal, regional resymmetrisation is not an issue at least not at the present nor has it ever been. Instead, the issue is the replacement of today's asymmetry with a different one.
