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This article discusses the relations between the central level (the State and central administration) and the local level (municipalities and territories) in decision-making. It attempts to reframe the question of democracy by bringing back into question the function of laws and taking stock of thirty years of practices of decentralization. What can be done to ensure that democracy is anchored and developed through the construction of common interests in the territories, the coconstruction of the public good, and individual and collective learning about codevelopment? Finally, it describes the process of managing change with reference to ten transformational concepts.