Reforming regional and local development policy in France

This article analyses the Voynet Act of 1999 and its implementation in two regions, assessing the explanatory value of conceptual approaches such as the institutionalisation of collective action, cognitive frameworks and regional governance. Institutionalisation of collective action accounts for the strategy adopted by the central state, but takes insufficient account of the state's diminishing normative capacity in the overall policy process. Under the influence of the cognitive framework established within each region, normative functions have been exercised largely by an emergent regional government in Rhône-Alpes, while in Brittany, norms determined by local government interests have prevailed over regional governance trends.