LEBEDEVA M.L. Power Technologies of the Organizational Model of French Regional Policy
DOI 10.35775/PSI.2019.31.1.009
M.L. LEBEDEVA Candidate of Sciences (political sciences), Associate Professor at the Chair of political sciences, Russian State Agrarian University – MSHA named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia
POWER TECHNOLOGIES OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL OF FRENCH REGIONAL POLICY
The purpose of writing this article is to highlight the features of organization of the regional policy in France on the basis of the theoretical understanding of the concepts of “regional policy,” “model of regional policy” and “policy analogy.” The research topic is the content of the French policy of organizing a regional political space. The object of the research is the power technologies of regional policy.
The system-structural method, which considers political relations as an integral system of interconnections of phenomena and events of the political process, makes it possible to determine the main essential content of this research topic. Institutional approach involves the study of political institutions and their content.
An analysis of Russian and foreign sources suggests that the main issue posed in the article is relevant at the present stage of development. The study is made possible on the basis of existing research. A comprehensive study of the conceptual theoretical characteristics of the regional policy as such allowed the author to identify the model and features of the political toolkit for the organization of the“center-regions” relations in modern French Republic.
Key words: regional policy, model, policy analogy, unitarism, federalism.
The regional policy of each state is unique in its own way. At the same time, it is possible discuss a relatively possible model of organizing regional spatial development. It is quite obvious that any model, as such, is changing in the process of evolution and political challenges, and at the same time, it is a constant, filled with institutional content, with a certain structure, mechanisms and tools for the organization of political power.
The questions of structuring the system of government bodies, the specifics of the relationship of the central government with local territorial units are important and topical issues of the world and Russian political process. No state in the world can shirk the responsibility for the country's territorial integrity. This is the usual policy norm of each state in the relatively quiet phase of its existence. But this rule turns into a priority function of the state during the periods of radical transformation of the existing social relations and formation of new ones. The history teaches that during such periods the states undergoes the strongest territorial changes, and it is the uncontrollable disintegration processes that turn into incalculable disasters and political disasters for the people [9. P. 9]. There is a threshold beyond which the social tension acquires an explosive character [21. P. 51].
Virtually all states involved in the globalization process are subject to internal changes taking place in the system of public authority organization [9. P. 7]. This is expressed in the redistribution of powers within the state itself and the transfer of more powers to the regional level. Transformation of the public administration system and the emergence of the phenomenon of multi-level governance at the present stage require from the states new constitutional legal reforms, the study of the mechanisms and results of such processes [9. P. 7-8].
The state selectively chooses political technologies in the framework of the state structure, procedures and methods that are aimed at achieving the most optimal and effective implementation of the goals and objectives of a particular subject in a particular political situation [16. P. 15]. Political technologies not only streamline the means of achieving this goal, but also fix the sequence of actions, the development of appropriate algorithms for the behavior of each political subject [18. P. 416].
The study of the world experience in organizing regional political process seems to the author to be important and timely from the point of view of the development of political science. The starting point for the understanding of the designated research topic is the notion of “regional policy.” It is possible to single out a certain model of organization of the French regional political space and therefore it is important to show the criteria and grounds for highlighting the main dominant characteristics of the term under consideration.
Various criteria are identified to understand the content of the concept of “regional policy”: the subjects and objects of the regional policy, the scope of regulation and the regional problematic situations [11. P. 101], the goals of such policy, the basic principles and tools for its implementation, “the spatial orientation of regional policy” [20], the search for the optimal system of management of the regional policy pursued, as well as the question of the place of government institutions at all levels of government.
In accordance with the economic approach, regional policy is seen as a solution to regional problems in the economic sphere. The goals, objectives and scope of regional policy differ both by country and the historical period in the same country. Regional policy depends on a number of factors [4. P. 42], such as: the level of socio-economic development, stages of economic development cycles, the views of the ruling political parties and the dominant economic school, the severity of ethnic issues (when the regional policy is to solve national problems) [12. P. 52-53].
The modern model of integrated regional development of the European Union organizes regional policy in three directions [3. P. 5]. First of all, attention is paid to the economic convergence of regions in order to help less developed territorial spatial formations, thereby reducing their lag behind more developed countries. Secondly, programs are being implemented to improve regional competitiveness and employment. The third direction is the promotion of cooperation between regions and countries in order to reduce the economic value of the national borders [3. P. 5].
Professor D. Yuill, speaking of the tasks of the regional policy of the EU countries, identified four groups, “reflecting the different nature and complexity of the regional problems facing them” [20]. He attributed France to the fourth group of countries, which, according to his point of view, is less affected by the uneven development of various regions, highlighting employment and structural change as the main problems of these countries. The American political scientist emphasized: “The EU regional policy is now a policy that determines and focuses on the possibilities for the future, mobilizing under-used potential, and not paying compensation for the problems of the past” [3. P. 6].
From the point of view of the political science, regional policy is seen as a policy towards the regions, namely, the regional dimension of the political process. The center manages the regional structure, while maintaining its general outline, but at the same time, determines the permissible parameters of regional fragmentation, thereby ensuring state regulation of territorial development.
Regional policy is an integral part of the state policy represented by its political institutions, aimed at the organization of the national space (territory) in accordance with the chosen development strategy; it is also the system of principles, priorities and norms that determine the nature of interaction between the central and regional authorities [9. P. 27-28].
Regional policy is part of the vertical hierarchy in the relations “center – regions”, its subject is the center that develops and implements it. Thus, regional policy is a subject-object relationship between the center and the regions. The central level is its subject and the regional level is the object [19. P. 80-81].
Combining the above definitions of the sought-after concept, a regional policy can be understood as a system of goals and objectives of state authorities for managing the political, economic, and social development of the country's regions, as well as a mechanism for their implementation [10. P. 95]. Regional policy is a legally defined system of state measures, directly aimed at resolving the problems of the integrated development of regions of the country through the redistribution of resources between regions.
Regional policy in the broad sense of the word is a system of management decisions of any political structures of the national level in relation to their territories [19. P. 82]; the policy pursued by public authorities and local authorities with the participation of the regions. In a narrow sense, regional policy is understood as state administration, a policy pursued by federal government bodies, state government bodies of the regions, local governments at the expense of budget funds of all levels of government.
The main goal of the regional policy is to find a compromise between the interests of regional government bodies and local self-government bodies, and in addition: reducing disproportions in the standard of living and business conditions between parts of the state; interregional cooperation; territorial integrity of the state [17. P. 211]; ensuring the economic, social, legal and organizational foundations of federalism in the Russian Federation, the creation of a single economic space; ensuring uniform minimum social standards and equal social protection, guaranteeing the social rights of citizens established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, regardless of the economic opportunities of the regions; prevention of environmental pollution, as well as the elimination of the consequences of its pollution, integrated environmental protection of the regions; priority development of regions of particular strategic importance; maximum use of natural and climatic features of the regions; formation and provision of guarantees of local self-government [2].
According to Musaev R.A. and Reshiyev S.S., it is possible to distinguish as a tool of regional policy restrictive (administrative and financial) and incentive measures (aimed at stimulating economic growth in regions lagging behind in terms of their economic development) [12. P. 57].
The authors of the above classification divide incentive measures into four unequal groups: 1) funding of the population for leaving the problem territories, which helps to resolve the unemployment problems and reduce social or regional spendings from the regional or local budgets; 2) location of state enterprises and institutions; 3) improvement of the territories by measures of regional policy aimed at increasing the investment attractiveness of the territories, but not implying the support of specific enterprises; 4) assistance to individual enterprises. Measures of this kind lead to the decentralization of government agencies [12. P. 58].
In addition to the above-mentioned regional policy instruments, the priority tasks of the Western countries include: 1) development of “problematic” regions and reconstruction of the “depressed regions”; 2) decentralization of agglomerations and territories of superconcentration of the population and industrial production; 3) formation of new industrial hubs outside urban settlements that are not associated with the existing centers of industrial production [13. P. 308].
The most common regional policy measures are financing (budget), administration (bans, permits and benefits) and infrastructure development. In many countries, regional policy is carried out not only by the central authority, but also by the authority of separate administrative parts of the state [17. P. 211].
The political content of the regional policy is determined in several directions: the preservation of the territorial-political system; centralized control over the regions and at the same time an effective balance of powers and resource base of central and regional authorities; harmonization of relations across and between the regions [19. P. 86].
An complex approach to the understanding of the content of regional policy reveals all areas of its regulation. We are talking about the subsystems of the region – political, economic, social, ethno-national and spiritual. The authors of this approach (Shtulberg B. and Vvedensky V.) consider that the task of the regional policy is to comprehensively solve regional problems of various origins, which distinguishes regional policy from the regional aspects of other state policies [19. P. 87].
On the basis of a systemic vision of a regional policy that is broader than an integrated approach, Turovsky R.F. defines it as a system of actions of the national center aimed at regulating political relations with the regions and at the regional level itself [19. P. 87].
In scientific literature, regional policy is often typologized vertically on the basis of three levels of government: federal, subregional and local. By virtue of this circumstance, the state (federal) and regional subsystems are distinguished in the regional policy structure. This is a policy that has the status of the state policy, but is developed by the regions or pursued by the federal authorities [11. P. 104]. The difference between these types of power is in the scale and financial sources [11. P. 104]. The main feature of regional policy in the context of federalism is that the federal government bodies are the coordinating element of regional policy at all levels of government.
The object of regional policy is “various regional (spatial) inequalities” [10. P. 106]. In this regard, the regional policy is a form of government intervention in different regional subsystems. The most important causes of spatial (regional) inequalities are political conditions, forms of general and regional politics; institutional factors; degree of regional autonomy; the history of regional development and others. [5. P. 8]. For example, Russia to a certain extent demonstrates that the process of division of rights between the federal government, the administration of the subjects of the Federation and local authorities has not been completed [9. P. 30].
The main function of regional policy is to ensure the integrated socio-economic development of a particular region and all regions as a certain integrity. State regional policy is the main instrument for the regulation of relations between the center and the regions and creation of a single legal and economic space [11. P. 94]. Strengthening the latent contradictions between the center and the regions and the role of the state make it necessary to clarify and develop a system of regional policy. Accordingly, it is entirely expedient to preserve and rationally use the experience of the state planning that takes place in solving territorial problems.
Within the framework of the regional policy, a regional structure is being formed, which plays a strategic role in the public policy. Such cases are called decentralization policy. Decentralization is the development of self-government in the regions and localities, when the political decision-making process is partially shifted towards the regions. An important component of decentralization is devolution, a transfer of authority from the center to the regions and local government structures [19. P. 162].
The main directions of regional policy abroad are: 1) decentralization of political and administrative authority and economy, ensuring greater independence of the regions; 2) development of joint strategies for the economic development of the center and the regions; 3) alignment of the levels of social and economic development of the territories; 4) coordination of the long-term regional programs and strategic goals of regional policy [11. P. 96-97].
The author draws the attention to the model of regional policy of the French Republic as an existing pattern of spatial political development. The experience of unitarism, namely, the form of organization of power technologies at such levels as: center-regions; region-region is of specific interest.
A political region (spatially organized or historically established territorial community) is a certain level of political relations. The solution of the issue of the format of relations “center-regions” is directly related to the quality of the state.
The balance of relations “center-regions” involves the competition of two institutions the centralized control and regional participation. In France, the concept of the “center” exists in two basic senses. The first sense determines the social center, the opposition of two extremely ideological blocks and the second sense is the political “center” [15. P. 210-211]. The center is a subsystem of state control and management, the role of which is the integrity of the territory of the state, the provision of a unified state policy [19. P. 75]. A region is a subsystem providing regional (local) interest. Its role-playing function is an independent solution of local issues, for which it seeks to create managerial autonomy, its own political subspace independent in certain parameters from the center [19. P. 75].
A true reflection of interests, the search for their coherence and the balancing of powers allows building the following models of “center-regions” relations presented in the following table 1 [22. P. 92].
Table 1
Models of “center-regions” relations
In case of federalism, there is a gradual erosion of regionalism and regional identity, with the result that a number of states have determined the federal path of territorial development acceptable to themselves. France is characterized by regionalism on the verge of federalism.
A political region is a territory with a systemic unity of institutional peculiarities [6. P. 86]. The model of the French regional policy that the author distinguishes is tentatively called the “Model of the French regional policy ‘Subsidiary Integration’ ” (“Modèle de la politique régionale française ‘Intégration subsidiaire’”).
The author uses the term “subsidiarity” in the name of the model not by accident. By analogy as such and because of the close interrelation between the political science and jurisprudence, the concepts of subsidiarity and responsibility are, in the opinion of the author, a single whole.
Based on the content of article 399 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, subsidiary liability is as a type of the civil liability in which additional functions arise, namely, the nature of responsibility in which the requirement transfers from the main debtor to additional persons [1]. So why not allow the possibility of the existence of such a thing as a “policy analogy” and accordingly broaden the understanding of this term by adding the interpretation of a humanitarian nature, which constitutes legal knowledge.
The principle of subsidiarity lies in the fact that the central authority must fulfill a “subsidiary” (auxiliary), non-subordinate, subordinate or dominant role, solving only those tactical tasks that cannot be effectively performed at the regional level [9. P. 120]. Besides, additional technologies should be created to limit the political influence of the central government.
The model of the French regional politics is a kind of hierarchy where political actors of the local level of government actively work for the central authority [7. P. 1067-1069]. In addition, the model presented by the author is characterized by a high degree of centralization of power. At the same time, the regional administration of France is built on the basis of state administration on behalf of appointed officials and self-government represented by elected bodies [14. P. 447], it combines the functions of local government and the functions of local government in state authorities [8. P. 56].
Regional policy must comply with a specific strategy: a single, conceptually elaborated state policy provisions in respect of the regions, a strategy based on a choice of ways to solve two problems: effective integration of territories (here unitarism and federalism collide) and control over geopolitical risk zones [7. P. 72]. The question is facing tactical actions and possible actors of political influence.
The author’s attention is drawn by the political institutions that have developed in the framework of the French regional process, the relations of the central government and political communities of the subnational level. French regional policy appears as an example of spatial development. France was chosen by the author not by chance, it is a state with a unitary form of territorial organization. At the same time, it is characterized by regionalism, bordering federalism, which is important in the framework of the transformation of federal relations in modern Russia.
Models of the “center-regions” level can be built through the ratio of the existing forms of central control and forms of regional participation, which, as a rule, are established by the central authority, that is, the political center. The regional political process appears as a system of interrelated and interdependent elements (balances): forces, interests and relations.
The regional policy of modern France can be described as “a strong center – strong regions (certain relativity of the content).” However, in the model of the French regional policy designated by the author, the central authority should play a supporting role, which is not characteristic of the real political process in France. The degree of centralization of power is high, and the regions are more like political actors performing servile functions.
France is characterized by a targeted, namely, direct, approach to the development of specific regions. At the same time, the peculiarity of the regional policy of France is in the combination of the functions of local government and the functions of regional (local) participation in the central government and national policy. In France, a system of direct relations between the center and the regions has been formed; the political center acts as an organizing principle, with the subordination of various levels of government and significant regional isolation.
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