From Valais to Europe

This article looks at the international opening of a regional pressure group based in Switzerland, the Groupement de la population de montagne du Valais romand (French-speaking Valais mountain population group). Three factors explain how this opening came about in the nineties : debates about Switzerland's membership of the European Economic Area, providing a fertile terrain for cross-border and international cooperation, fear of outsiders taking over the region via the Alpine Convention, which was to become a federating theme, and the organisation of mountain dwellers' interests on a European scale, which acts as a sustainable driving force behind the relations set up. In turn, this international opening was to change the « geography » of the group itself

Cartography · Convention · Economics · Economy · Geography · Political science · Population · Sociology · Terrain · Theme (computing) · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Demography · French Urban and Social Studies · Law