Theory and Practice of Paradiplomacy - Subnational Governments in International Affairs (Hardcover)

This book examines and systematises the theoretical dimensions of paradiplomacy - the role of subnational governments in international relations. Subnational governments across the world (provinces in Canada, states in the USA, cantons in Switzerland, landers in Germany, etc.) actively participate in international relations. They open trade and cultural missions abroad, join international networks of cooperation, sign treaties and agreements with foreign state and non-state actors and sometimes even challenge the official foreign policy of their central governments through critical statements or controversial actions. All these kinds of external activities have been labeled as 'paradiplomacy'. Through a systematisation of the different approaches in understanding constituent diplomacy, the author constructs an integrative theoretical explanatory framework to guide research on regional governments' involvement in international affairs. This theoretical framework can be used as a research guide for the study of the external activities of different subnational governments in various contexts.The framework is based on a multiple-response questionnaire technique (MRQ) which provides the matrix of possible answers on a set of key questions for paradiplomacy scholarship, such as: Why do subnational units go abroad? What channels and methods they are prefer to use in their 'foreign policy'? What are the potential consequences of paradiplomacy actions? The explanatory framework is also a 'product with an open code' and therefore can be updated and improved by any scholar in accordance with his/her theoretical and practical discoveries in the broad field of paradiplomacy research. This comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of paradiplomacy sheds light on the development of federalism and multi-level governance in a new global environment and contributes to the debates on the issue of 'actorness' in contemporary international affairs. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, federalism, governance, foreign policy and IR, as well as practitioners of diplomacy.