Corsica's struggle for autonomy: historical roots, institutional changes, and current challenges

France is a unitary state, with a certain degree of asymmetric decentralization. Metropolitan France is currently divided into 13 regions, further divided into 96 departments. Overseas France does comprise five overseas departments and regions, five overseas collectivities, New Caledonia, and French Southern and Antarctic Lands and the Clipperton island. The overseas collectivities—except for Saint Pierre and Miquelon—have an autonomous or semi-autonomous status, while the overseas departments and regions share the same status of departments in metropolitan France. New Caledonia is granted a unique status in the French system and is considered a sui generis overseas collectivity. To date, fully-fledged territorial autonomy remains elusive for Corsica. Decentralization has progressed since the 1970s but has not challenged France’s unitary structure, while Corsica has been granted a sui generis form of insular self-government within the loosely decentralized framework of metropolitan France. The atypical and ambiguous status of Corsica, in comparison to both mainland territorial collectivities and overseas ones, has not met Corsicans’ current needs and expectations.

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https://www.world-autonomies.info/territorial-autonomies/corsica