This volume asks what changes - if any - occurred after France undertook its "vast programme of decentralization" and looks at the implications for French public policy-making.

John Loughlin is Professor of European Politics at the University of Wales College of Cardiff. He is joint editor of Regional Politics and Policy: An International Journal. His principal research interests are comparative regional government, regionalism and federalism, and administrative reform. Recently he edited Southern Europe Studies Guide (London:Bowkcr Saur, 1993) and co-edited La Europa de las Regiones: Una Perspectiva Interguhernarnenral (University of Granada, 1994). Sonia Mazey is Lecturer in Politics at Cambridge University and Fellow ofChurchill Collcge, Cambridge. Her research focuses upon the politics,administration and policy-making processes of France and the EuropeanUnion. Recently she Co-edited (with J. Richardson) Lobbying in theEuropean Community (Oxford University Press, 1993) and (with CarolynRhodes) The State of the European Union, vol. 3, (Boulder: LynneReinner, 1995).

Introduction/John Loughtin and Sonw Maze -- The Evolution of the 1982 Regional Reforms: An Overview/Jean-Claude Douence -- The First Regional Political Elites in France (1986-1992): A Profile/Elisabeth Dupoirier -- The Finances of the French Regions in Retrospect/Guy Gilbert -- From Regional to Sectoral Policies: The Contractual Relations Between the State and the Regions in France/Richard Balme and Laurence Bonnet -- Regional Economic Policies: An Alternative to French Economic Dirigisme?/Patrick Le Gales -- Environmental Policy and the Regions in France/Maryvowie Bodiguel and Henry Buller -- The Status of Maritime and Insular France: The DOM-TOM and Corsica/Helen Hintjens, John Lou ghlin and Claude Olivesi -- French Regions and the European Union/Sonia Mazey -- Notes on Contributors.