Government System in Paris

For the purposes of administration, the city of Paris is both a département—one of 96 such administrative units in the country—and a commune, a designation given to every French village, town, and city.

The city is divided into 20 arrondissements, or districts.

French governments have systematically tried to hold Paris’s political power in check because of the city’s political and economic preeminence in France.

This was especially acute after the civil war of 1871, in which the Commune of Paris was defeated after attempting to gain autonomy from the rest of France.

For more than 100 years, Paris was governed directly by a state-appointed prefect and was virtually deprived of autonomy and political power.

A second prefect, also appointed by the state, controlled the Paris police force.

In 1975 Paris became a separate département but was still controlled directly by the prefect.
Legislation passed in the mid-1970s permitted Paris administrative powers again.

In 1977 Parisian voters elected their mayor for the first time since 1871. The mayor of Paris serves as the city’s primary executive officer.

The mayor controls the civic budget and is responsible for administering the city’s schools and public transport systems.

The mayor is assisted by a municipal council whose 163 members are also directly elected.

A state-appointed prefect runs the département of Paris and is responsible for the infrastructures and logistics that come under state administration.

The prefect of the police, in charge of the police forces, works side by side with both the mayor and the prefect of Paris.

Since 1982 each of the city’s arrondissements has directly elected its own local mayor and council.

In 1970 the Paris metropolitan area was reorganized into a new region, Île-de-France.

It is made up of eight départements: inner Paris (Seine), Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, and Val-d’Oise. Île-de-France is headed by a regional prefect and administered by a 164-member regional council.