The challenges facing administrative laws

Since the 1980s, our administrative laws have undergone profound changes in three identifiable directions: globalisation, denationalisation and decentralisation. Recently, other forces of transformation have been added: a cycle of successive crises, digitisation and the growing importance of the spatial dimension. All these have consequences for the fundamental constructions of our administrative laws: the theories of regulation, powers and bodies. This requires reflection on the underlying value systems, decision-making processes and distribution of functions among public and private agents. It also suggests a need for specific reforms, on the status of cities, the legal system of public spaces, the legal system of the digital public sphere and adapting our administrative laws to the demands of climate change.