POLICIES OF CONTRACTUALIZATION BETWEEN CE NTRALIZATION AND DECENTRALIZATION - THE CASES OF HIGHER-EDUCATION AND PUBLIC-WORKS

Based on surveys carried out in higher education and public works, the contractual practices are analyzed that have developed between centra l administrations and local units in the public sector. The value of t hese contracts lies less in the documents themselves than in the proce sses that enter into their being drawn up and implemented. Although th ese contractual arrangements have helped both modify the relations bet ween the center and the periphery and increase the autonomy of local u nits in both cases under study, they still fit into a rationale of ver tical, centralizing leadership.