TERRITORIAL THINKING AND THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN CROSSBORDER COOPERATION: THE RECENT SITUATION AND FIELDWORK RESULTS IN THE WESTERN ALPS
Published 2013-12-01
Keywords
- protected areas,
- mountain,
- legal framework,
- territorial thinking,
- cross-border cooperation
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2023 Lauranne JACOB, André SUCHET
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In this article we discuss the following questions: what is the key to cross-border cooperation,
particularly in the case of European mountain regions? Does the legal framework represent a
starting point for the development of cross-border relations or is it just a simple tool in the
service of territorial thinking? If we consider that there is a strong link between cross-border
relations and the European project, the above questions also raise the issue of the relative
roles of the bottom-up and top-down processes in the dynamics of European integration.
Results suggest that the legal framework represents an indispensable tool in the service of
territorial thinking but it cannot be a starting point for the development of cross-border
relations. The solutions do not only concern the law but also territory; the essential question is
how to define the social, political and spatial boundaries of cross-border cooperation.