The Local Administrative Services

If a Prefect seeks advice or information, very frequently he consults his subordinate civil servants in the département. He may turn to his General Secretary, Directeur du cabinet , or Sub-Prefects, or to a specialist on the staff of the prefecture; on the other hand, he may refer his problem to the head of a field service or indeed, to a number of them. In practice, a Prefect’s opinions are often strongly influenced by the views of his collaborators in the local administrative services. The same is true for a Prefect’s actions; the Prefect may decide or instruct, but it his subordinate in one of the many services who executes, and the possibilities for delay, obstruction, and back-door appeal to higher authority (in Paris) are seemingly endless. Hence, before attributing sole responsiblity for the relative failure of local government reforms to the Prefects, it is important to consider both the reactions of local administrators to these reforms, and their general attitudes about the Prefects. In this chapter, views of prefectoral services, and of field services, and reactions to the regional reforms are examined in turn.