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— Reform of the Territorial state — The year 2010 was marked by two major territorial reforms. The implementation of RÉATE (State Territorial Administration Reform) in January and the enactment of the law on the reform of local and regional authorities in December greatly changed the French administrative landscape. The question raised is whether these two reforms are based on two distinct approaches or whether they are underpinned by a single philosophy, that of setting up an efficient territorial State with newly drawn, relevant areas of intervention. Another issue addressed is how things stand regarding the old and complex relationships between deconcentration and decentralisation