La difficile gestion de l’eau en contexte transfrontalier : un exemple franco-espagnol

Abstract

By focusing on water management policies, this article addresses the social usage of borders, their complexity and ambiguity and how they impact the governance of cross-border territory. The case of the Cerdinyan plain on the French-Spanish border, allows distinguishing several types of border uses: a social usage to legitimate ongoing practices and a political and institutional use that capitalizes on levels of public action. In spite of the goodwill of certain actors, water management still has not found a solid cross-border base. As a matter of fact, water management is quickly assimilated to the Pyrenees Treaty and to the heterogeneity of national situations whenever it threatens to modify extant political, economic, and social balances. Along this border, the example chosen thus shows that local actors benefit from a discretionary use of their border situation according to shifting implications.

Keywords

• water management
• borders
• France
• Spain
• Cerdinyan plain
• european borders