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Communication and information technologies allowed capitalism to span a new stage, characterized by a dynamic of networks freed from any idea of frontier. In response to these transnational flows, political scientists are advocating the transfer of democratic practices of the Nation-State to the supra-national level, in order to regulate it. While sharing this viewpoint, the text shows the need to reconceptualize the infra-national level, the local level, by taking into account the territorial recomposition of cities brought about by the process of metropolization and "globalization." This reflection is based on the analysis of American cities from historiography and interviews with local officials working on the implementation of a federal reform policy of social assistance.