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The merger mania within public bureaucracies has been widely explored in academic literature on the transformations of states. Based on a process-tracing approach, this article explores the mechanisms of institutional change in the major merger process of the French territorial state (the ministerial field units at regional and departmental level and the prefect system) from 2007 to 2009. While closely studying the various sequences of this reform process, the article tests the influence of four causal mechanisms in understanding the transformations of the French territorial administration: the influence of the political executive on structural choices; the diffusion of legitimate rational myths; the role of institutional entrepreneurs in reorganizations; and the influence of bureaucratic politics in the redesign of the boundaries of public administrations.