Macro-regionalization in the Alps through the lens of regulatory regionalism Jörg Balsiger Department of Geography and Environment, University of Geneva DRAFT, 12 JUNE 2013 – NOT FOR CITATION OR DISTRIBUTION 1. Introduction The emergence of macro-regional strategies on the European policy agenda is a curious development. 1 On the one hand, the instrument offers a promising approach to address several shortcomings in the implementation of the territorial cohesion objective, including the widespread shortage of meaningful policy integration and the apparent lack of coherence between numerous territorial policy initiatives. On the other hand, the European Union (EU) has been cautious about promoting them, pending an in-depth evaluation of the two first and only such strategies, and has emphasized that macro-regional strategies would entail no new regulations, no new institutions, and no new financial resources. Despite this hesitation, several macro-regional strategy initiatives have emerged. In December 2012 the European Council mandated the Commission to proceed with the preparation of a macro-regional strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian region, and in May 2013, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of a macro-regional strategy for the Alps. Owing to the relative novelty of the phenomenon, scholars are only beginning to explore appropriate theoretical frameworks for analyzing the drivers, dynamics, and impacts of macro-regionalization. Since the development of these initiatives involves multifaceted processes unfolding in the context of European multilevel governance, scholars can draw on a variety of conceptual lenses, both within and beyond the traditional confines of European studies. 1 Research for this paper was supported with funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research (COST Action IS0801 Project “Ecoregional Territoriality: Re-scaling Environmental Governance, EcoTREG), the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project “European Regional Mountain Initiatives: From Pyrenees to Caucasus, ERMI), and the Swiss Network for International Studies (Project “Mountlennium: Reaching Millennium Development Objectives through Regional Mountain Governance”). 1