Jouve, Bernard creator text xu| 2005 continuing ng p.285-94. This article examines structural reorganisation in Western Europe and various factors explaining the new institutinal dynamics affecting the governance of their cities: the historical origins of renewed interest in metropolitan government; the division of powers between state and local and regional levels; and the linkage of the latter to 'Fordist' modes of state organisation. Since the 1990s new processes of decentralisation and regionalisation have affected the institutional landscape. Against the background of exacerbated territorial competition and the questioning of the welfare state, there has also been a transformation of a raison d'etre of urban institutions resulting in reformulated connections between civil societies and the dynamics of globalisation. - Reproduced. Urbanization - Western Europe Urban development - Western Europe Urban development Public Administration and Development 180718