Umstrittenes Europa. Netzwerkanalyse der deutschsprachigen Alpenschutzbewegung (1975-2005)

This project seeks to examine the complex negotiation processes in European politics – which often evolve in a discordant field with distinct actors at the regional, national and international levels – by analysing disputes over European alpine transit policy with a comparative focus on Austria and Switzerland between the 1970s and 2000s. Based on a network-analytical approach, the project will analyse the interplay between political actors on the one hand and societal actors of the German-speaking alpine conservation movement (the Alpenschutzbewegung) on the other. The study aims to assess to what extent the environmental movement had an impact on European policy decisions at the national and supranational levels, and reconstruct the networks through which it exerted its influence. The case studies of Austria and Switzerland also offer the possibility of comparing the Euro-political networks of a state that joined the European Union (Austria) during the period under examination, and another that did not (Switzerland). The project will be carried out jointly by the University of Innsbruck, the University of Basel and the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich and is broken down into three subprojects. Subproject A (LMU Munich) analyses how the conflicts between transport policies and alpine conservation were dealt with on the European level, in particular by the European Union and the Council of Europe. Subprojects B and C focus on regional and national authorities as well as the regional and transnational networks of the alpine conservation movement. Geographically, Subproject B addresses the disputes over alpine transit across the Brenner Pass against the backdrop of Austria's joining the EU in 1995. Subproject C examines the debates about alpine transit over the Gotthard Pass, particularly in the context of the so-called "Alpen-Initiative", which in 1994 imposed a restrictive transport policy framework after the rejection of EEC membership in 1994 and had a lasting impact on Swiss-EU relations. The three case studies offer the possibility to write a transnational history of environmental movements and open a new perspective on Europeanisation. Methodologically, the coherence of the project relies on a common network analysis. From a theoretical point of view, the project contributes to a non-teleological, open-ended understanding of European integration.