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This has meant that the heads of wealthy regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Proposals to give regions limited legislative autonomy have met with considerable resistance; others propose transferring certain powers from the departments to their respective regions, leaving the former with limited authority.
Some areas are the clear responsibility of one level of government (e.g. the state is responsible for international issues), but in other areas it is shared across some or all levels of government (e.g. transport, parks, tourism, culture, and sport get different types of support from different levels).
Map of the provinces of France in 1789. They were abolished the following year. Under the Ancien Régime, the Kingdom of France was subdivided in multiple different ways (judicial, military, ecclesiastical, etc.) into several administrative units, until the National Constituent Assembly adopted a more uniform division into departments (départements) and districts in late 1789.
In continental France (metropolitan France, excluding Corsica), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km 2 (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of a county of the United ...
France is currently divided into 26 "régions"; 22 of these form metropolitan France, which includes the continental nation and the island of Corsica, and 4 are overseas. Régions are further subdivided into 100 "départements", including the 4 départements d'outre-mer ("Overseas Departments") or "DOMs".
A map showing the twelve original arrondissements in 1795. The surrounding grey area shows the size of Paris after the expansion in 1860. On 11 October 1795, Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements. They were numbered from west to east. The numbers 1–9 were on the Right Bank of the Seine. The numbers were 10–12 on the Left Bank.
France is divided into 577 constituencies (circonscriptions) for the election of deputies to the lower legislative House, the National Assembly (539 in Metropolitan France, 27 in the overseas departments and territories, and 11 for French residents overseas). Deputies are elected in a two round system to a term fixed to a maximum of five years.
An arrondissement (French pronunciation: [aʁɔ̃dismɑ̃] ⓘ) [1] is the third level of administrative division in France generally corresponding to the territory overseen by a subprefect. As of 2023, the 101 French departments are divided into 333 arrondissements (including 13 overseas).