Bridging national boundaries: how networks of local actors are building the Alpine region

In the Alpine context, civil society organisations, with help of committed local actors (inhabitants, local representatives, researchers, managers of protected areas, and ecological associations) organised in networks, are bridging national boundaries to deal with environmental issues (Debarbieux & Rudaz, 2008). But, despite the willingness to focus on more horizontal relations, the administrative, political and ideological structures of the networks and their members do not completely detach themselves from the national level, as this paper shows.