ABSTRACT
This chapter explores aspects of continuity and change in the Aland regime of demilitarization and neutralization, as well as its contemporary status, and explores the material scope of the demilitarization and neutralization regulations. The complex regime applying to the Aland Islands is a paradigmatic example of multilevel governance where local, national, international and European norms and institutions co-exist, co-operate, collide and compete and where legal, political, diplomatic and military realities run parallel. The original commitments by the contracting parties in the 1856 demilitarization agreement and the Paris Peace Treaty were broadened by the Decision of the Council of the League of Nations of 24 June 1921 which in turn resulted in the 1921 Convention on the Non-Fortification and Neutralization of the Aland Islands, negotiated under the auspices of the League of Nations. The demilitarization and neutralization of the Aland Islands is a regime involving a series of regulations, institutions and processes at various levels, national as well as international.
