In their ordinary day-to-day political life, communes reflect three essential features. First and foremost, they form discrete territorial areas in which a number of social, economic and cultural activities take place. The communes also provide administrative services, through which they interact to a greater or lesser degree with the various areas of their environment. They are, finally, a political arena in which the parties are increasingly competing in order to gain positions of influence. These aspects are similarly manifested in local policy-making. This is conducted in the name of a constructed and identifiable local entity, and provides a certain number of services, thereby defining the various sectors of the communal administration. It is also guided by party political ideologies which, indeed, can structure the general pattern of local political activity.

The role of the council in the integration of the local community can be analysed along three main dimensions of its activity. In these terms, one can distinguish here between a territorial dimension (representing the commune and its various socio-spatial zones); a functional dimension (the various tasks for which the council is responsible and which are formalised by the professionals); and finally a more partisan dimension (involving the representation of different views and the formation of strategies for action along party political lines). It is the combination of these key dimensions which enables conflicts to be settled, and the divergent interests resulting from the effects of local council policy to be reconciled.