EUSALP and the Challenge of Multi-level Governance Policies in the Alps by Alberto Bramanti and Francesca Teston

ABSTRACT

‘Wide area cooperation’ may be the ultimate challenge within transnational cooperation processes. Although the Alps share a remarkable history of mutual collaboration, they are facing the challenge of a new sustainable-coordination paradigm. The Alpine territories are at a turning point. They are striving for a new governance arrangement, and trying to avoid both the Scylla of top-town dirigisme and the Charybdis of poor local
governments. This paper aims to: address the recent literature focussing on the EUSALP macro-regional strategy; provide some insights into the role that EUSALP could play as ultimate coordinator of the numerous networks operating in the Alpine space; and discuss a workable division of labour among the different actors in order to ensure a renewed focus on sustainable development.
The main outcomes of this study are: a frame for a theoretical debate on the most appropriate governance structure for the Alps; guidance for policymakers on a division of labour among different actors that can promote sustainable tourism in the Alps and a list of suggestions for practitioners. Furthermore, the study acknowledges ‘sustainable tourism’ as a highly relevant field for the emerging of bottom-up arrangements toward a
workable governance agreement.