Debordering the world of states: Towards a multi-level system in Europe and a multi-polity system in North America insights from border regions

The Westphalian system of sovereign nation-states is being challenged as na tional administrations lose their 'gate-keeper-role' between domestic and i nternational politics. But what kind of political system is emerging 'after Westphalia'? The article attempts to answer this question by looking at pr ocesses of political institution-building in cross-border regions in Europe and North America. A classification of political institutions is developed which, in a first dimension, distinguishes between instrumental and identi ty-providing institutions. Second, formal, encompassing and territorially b ased political institutions are contrasted with informal, specific and non- territorial institutions. Based on this classification, the forms of cross- border collaboration in four border regions in Europe and North America are compared. In Europe, cross-border collaboration is producing another soft, but formalized, comprehensive and territorially defined layer in the Europ ean 'multi-level-system'. In North America, by contrast, only informal, spe cific and non-territoral institutions are evolving across the national bord ers. Here, the territorially based nation-state is not complemented by simi lar kinds of polities, but is instead being challenged more fundamentally b y new kinds of polities - transnational socio-economic exchange networks an d transnational ideological coalitions which embody enormous transformation al potential.