Territorial re-organisation at a local lever and social policies governance : decentralization from downwards[Réagencements territoriaux récents et conduite des politiques sociales à l'échelle locale : la décentralisation vue d'en bas]

This article proposes a secondary analysis of data collected on four French cities as part of an European research project, entitled "Rescaling Social Welfare Policies. A Comparative Study on the Path towards Multi-level Governance in Europe". The field-work provided a profusion of data on the so-called "2nd wave of decentralization" (2004-2005) that hardly fit into the standardized frame designed for international comparisons. It appears that this territorial re-organization combines opposite movements depending on the point of view adopted (bottom-up or top-down) and the type of public action considered (planning, funding, defining eligibility criteria etc.). The rescaling processes that occurred within the four field-sites have ambiguous effects as regards regulation. On the one hand, theoretically speaking, they turn market competition into an attractive model. But, on the other hand, they have practical implications (limited market size and lack of expertise within local governments for example) which prevent this autonomous mechanism of regulation from achieving efficiency. This finally induces constant bargaining which leads case managers to using informal procedures in the selection of beneficiaries within the official target population and give rise to disparities in access to welfare programs across the four field-sites but also within each site depending on the institutional entry point.