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— (Con) fusion in the French Territorial State Administration : the establishment of Directorates for Territorial (and Sea) Administration of the French Departments (DDT(M)) — In this article, the author studies the impact of REATE (the Reform of the State’s Territorial Administration) in the period that immediately followed its implementation at the level of the French Departments. The author mentions the problems identified by the managing staff of the DDT(M) (Departmental Directorates for Territorial (and Sea) Administration) as they grappled with “organisational engineering”. For many members of the staff, the attitudes of the stakeholder ministers were directly responsible for the confusion as they resorted to various manœuvering in order to maintain their power of action and governance in the new territorial map. The hybrid structures of the DDT(M)s had to deal with multiple strategies giving rise to tensions and contradictions, making it difficult to run the newly created local administrative entity.