Melting law: Learning from practice in transboundary mountain regions

Article Article scientifique Article Melting law: Learning from practice in transboundary mountain regions eng 2015 author Perrier Benjamin 520424 author Levrat Nicolas 23078 32-44 10.1016/j.envsci.2014.12.023 1462-9011 http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1462901115000027 Transboundary mountain regions in Europe emerge as normative spaces at the intersection of territorial and environmental governance. Constituting a meeting point of different national legal orders under the umbrella of international regimes, they have become natural laboratories for the development of cross-border law. The objective of this article is to examine the nature and normative dimension of such legal environments. To this end, we introduce the concept of ‘melting law' as a means to assess the re-combination of different modes of conventional, national, international, supranational and/or interregional normativities. Hard (national) laws melt within the framework of transboundary mountain regions as a legal category, based on a mixture of national, international (or EU) and interregional norms, each combining with the other by softening their usual normative impact. Building on a review of legal approaches to mountains and cross-border cooperation practices, we trace the development of ‘‘melting law'' and ‘‘melted law'' through a discussion of the legal framework for and the impact of ‘‘working communities'' and the ‘‘European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation'' (EGTC). The discussion mobilizes a global approach with a view to generate new insights into the legal challenges facing transboundary mountain governance in Europe. Regional governance Multi-level governance Hard law Soft law Melting law Mountain regions Cross-border cooperation Working communities European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Borders Dewey 320 Dewey 341 Dewey 910 Swiss National Science Foundation European Regional Mountain Initiatives CH 24 Global Studies Institute 0DJ 98 Département de droit international public et organisation internationale 5E 120 Département de géographie et environnement T2 false 939 Pôle/Institut Gouvernance de l'environnement et développement territorial (PI-GEDT) Environmental science & policy 49 Centres et instituts / Global Studies Institute Faculté de droit / Département de droit international public et organisation internationale Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de géographie et environnement

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Melting law: Learning from practice in transboundary mountain regions	Environmental science & policy			2015	750	0

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Perrier, Benjamin