The paper is based on intensive longitudinal field research. It suggests an interpretative model of territorial governement in France. Relations between national and local authorities as well as policy-making processes suggest that the centralized state has face a major decline of its hegemony...

The article determines which conflict resolution mechanisms are constructive and which are destructive, through analysing contractual agreements in European biotechnology enterprises. In the article, the term mechanism is used to refer to tools or the way in which conflicts are resolved....