ABSTRACT
The chief difference between French and British local government, however, lies in the French separation of executive from deliberative functions. In Great Britain, local services are run by the Council through its different committees, at which a permanent official of the local authority receives his instructions, later ratified by a full meeting of the Council. The two chief obstacles to responsible local government are the centralizing tendencies of the government departments and the system of administrative tutelage. The officials of the different ministries naturally tend to look to Paris and the government departments have sometimes encouraged them to by-pass the prefect. The French system is to some extent self-perpetuating, because the kinds of initiative and experiment which prepare people’s minds for fruitful change are largely ruled out.
