Political Issues of Paradiplomacy; Lessons from the Developed World

The phenomenon of regional governments developing international relations, often called 'paradiplomacy,' has been most visible in Western industrialized liberal-democracies. In thinking about paradiplomacy in developing and post-communist countries, considering the experience of regions such as Quebec, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Flanders and Wallonia could be instructive for understanding the logic of this activity, highlighting key choices that need to be made, and pointing out potential challenges stemming from the development by sub-state units of international relations.

This paper begins by distinguishing between three layers of paradiplomacy and makes the argument that paradiplomacy can be a multifunctional vehicle for the promotion of interests and identity. It then discusses the various choices that have to be made when developing a paradiplomacy, including designing new structures and selecting partners. Next, the paper addresses the issue of intergovernmental relations in the context of paradiplomacy and, more specifically, the attitude of the central state when the sub-state unit developing paradiplomacy has nationalist aspirations. Finally, the last section offers a brief discussion of the implications of paradiplomacy for democracy, deliberation and representation.

André Lecours is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University, Canada. His main research interests are nationalism, federalism and paradiplomacy. He is the editor of New Institutionalism; Theory and Analysis published by the University of Toronto Press in 2005, the author of Basque Nationalism and the Spanish State (University of Nevada Press, 2007), and the co-author (with Daniel Béland) of Nationalism and Social Policy; The Politics of Territorial Solidarity (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Information is available at the secretariat of the Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, tel. 070-3746605, email: cdsp@clingendael.nl or can be downloaded from the Clingendael website.