City Diplomacy Research Articles

A Different View on City Diplomacy: Mid-sized Baltic Towns and Their International Contacts

Abstract Recent developments in the study of city diplomacies have kept small and mid-sized towns mostly outside of focus. This robs the field of an opportunity to consider the international activities of most cities and networks of cities, and deprives us from a reflection on the reasons why most cities would feel a need to develop their international outreach, and on the ways they would do it. Studying the city diplomacy of small cities reminds us of the depth of practices and of the variety of realities blanketed under the notion of city diplomacy – variety both in geographical but also in chronological terms. From the point of view of these small and mid-sized towns, city diplomacy appears subtly different than from the vintage point of great cities. This essay will reflect on this through the example of Turku, a mid-sized town in the Baltic Sea region. It aims to show that, in a field concentrated on big cities, studying mid-sized cities bring the same returns as studying small states: a wider understanding of the way foreign relations work on a daily basis.

Bright Future for City Diplomacy and Soft Power

Abstract Cities are once again in the forefront of diplomatic activities. In this essay, I unpack a relatively understudied area within city diplomacy: the link between cities and countries. Although cities enjoy a heightened level of agency in the international arena, they do not exist in a vacuum. As substate actors, the actions of cities could impact their home countries. Using lessons learned from public diplomacy studies and situating soft power as a framework to describe such activities, I first present the changes in the diplomatic landscape that paved the way to resurgence of city diplomacy. Next, I propose a more inclusive definition of the activities of cities in the international arena. Last, I show the link between cities and countries.

Towards a Conceptual Framework for City Diplomacy: a Practitioner’s Perspective

Abstract As a rising star on the international stage, city diplomacy has been examined by practitioners and pioneer scholars. Therefore, structured insights from practice, history, and academic works have boosted theory development. Similarly, new diplomatic history can explore new paths based on contemporary perspectives on city diplomacy. Based on a practitioner’s perspective, this essay brings academically contextualized observations together for the construction of a conceptual framework for the historical study of city diplomacy.

“Ma coustume ne soit de m’addresser aux villes”: Early Modern Amsterdam’s Dealings in City Diplomacy

Abstract The historical dimensions of city diplomacy have faced neglect in diplomatic studies and diplomatic history. Historicizing the concept of city diplomacy, however, can benefit both disciplines. Through a case study on early modern Amsterdam’s considerable diplomatic ambitions, I argue that a historical case contextualizes current-day discourses in city diplomacy, and that cities must be assessed as diplomatic actors in order to further complete narratives on traditional state-driven diplomacy.

British Cities versus Apartheid: UK Local Authority Activism as City Diplomacy

Abstract This essay considers the phenomenon of British local authorities mobilizing to oppose the policies of apartheid in post-war South Africa. Activities include boycott, divestment, twinning agreements, media campaigns, and re-naming/memorialization. The activity is placed in the context of a transnational anti-apartheid network overseen by the United Nations organization. The campaign is shown to be inversely related the level of national government activity and especially associated with opposition to Margaret Thatcher and her government.

The Intercity Origins of Diplomacy: Consuls, Empires, and the Sea

Abstract City diplomacy is a fairly new topic in the study of diplomacy, and, many would argue, a fairly recent empirical phenomenon. A counterpoint to this could be to reference how the alleged origin of diplomacy in Greek antiquity was city-centered, as were the earliest forms of Renaissance diplomacy in Italy. In this essay we want to probe the connections between cities and diplomacy through problematizing what has counted as diplomacy. Our starting point is that cities have always mattered to what we could analytically refer to as diplomatic practice. Being conscious of the conceptual ambiguities, we are thus not starting from a specific definition of “city diplomacy,” but from a conviction that cities have mattered and continue to matter to the practice of diplomacy.

Bridging Theory on Global Corporate Hierarchy and City Diplomacy: The Case of China

This study tests the relationship between the hierarchical position of cities in the global economy and a typology of cultural, economic, political, and social external relations, namely city diplomacy. We conduct this test on a sample of 46 Chinese cities, seeking to bridge otherwise separate existing theories on the structure of the world city hierarchy and varied dimensions of city diplomacy. Contrary to expectations, we find that the aggregate of the typology of city diplomacy, rather than only the economic dimension, is most closely associated with position in the world city hierarchy. This tentatively suggests that the collective effect of internationally-oriented cultural, economic, political and social activities in Chinese cities reflect the global structure of the highest levels of globalized urban wealth.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki as models of city diplomacy

Hiroshima and Nagasaki as models of city diplomacy

DP 0257 - International City’s Networks and Diplomacy

The internationalization of cities and the constitution of a new international space of power involves a much more expressive number of cities than the usual global cities. Nowadays, dozens of international organizations are composed of regional capitals, medium, and even small cities. With diverse agendas and their own strategies of action, those organizations seek to interfere in global processes and negotiate with large corporations, multilateral organizations, and nation-states. Historically, the internationalization of cities carries strategic values such as peace, culture, and sustainability, among others discussed in this paper. More recently, the notion of the city as merchandise explains this process. Urban requalification and urban space commoditization are treated here under the conception of rugosities (Ribeiro, 2012), local and global rationality (Santos, 1995), and creative destruction (Brenner and Theodore, 2002). By hypothesis, I affirm that city internationalization is directly related to the democratic environment, degree of social participation, and local government’s autonomy. The magnitude of this process is measured confronting original database research to secondary sources and illustrated using the Brazilian scenario. Additionally, a theoretical discussion proposes an innovative classification of those networks according to their constitution, composition, agendas, and spatialization. The characteristics, agents, and means of city diplomacy are debated, and the adequacy of other terms (paradiplomacy, federative diplomacy, and metrodiplomacy). In conclusion, it summarizes notes and indications of further research aiming to deepen the knowledge about this new and important agent of the world order, the city network.

해외 지자체 도시외교 성공사례 연구: 지자체 공공외교 추진 과제를 중심으로

21세기 신공공외교 차원에서 지자체의 공공외교 활성화 방안 연구는 그 의미가 크다. 먼저, 한국의 중견국 외교정책 추진과 보조를 맞추는 공공외교 정책과 수립이 정립되어야 한다. 중견국으로서 한국의 역할 정체성을 가치의 진영 간 경쟁에서의 중립자, 중재자, 화해촉진자(reconciliator)에 초점을 맞춤으로써 외교적 자율성을 확보해야 할 필요가 있다.<BR> 그러므로 본 논문은 성공적인 해외 지자체 공공외교 추진 사례들을 주요 문헌 분석을 통해 살피고자 한다. 또 지자체의 공공외교는 ‘도시외교’(city diplomacy) 형태로 추진되고 있다는 점에 주목하고, 주요국의 지자체 공공외교 실태분석은 지자체 공공외교의 주요 쟁점사안과 방향성을 도출할 수 있으며 향후 우리 지자체 공공외교의 활성화 방안에 큰 도움을 줄 것으로 기대된다.

The political economy of city diplomacy

City diplomacy is a major trend in the soft power development. As cities face daily political issues deriving from globalisation (such as mass tourism, migration, climate change, and commodification of culture), they demand for, rather than contesting with a nationstate, an operational reinterpretation of sovereignty oriented to solve problems. Political economy approach is a useful method to understand the role of global cities where the nation state has many deficiencies. The global city establishes rules to influence international legal development and practice, even without a traditional legal basis (such as sovereignty, monopoly on violence, and legal exclusivity). As these ‘superstar cities’ grow, other cities are losing opportunities to develop and take advantage of globalisation. The risk of inter-urban inequality feeds populism. Cities will become the middle power in global political organisations in the future, and political economy will shed light on how power and values operate at the urban level.

Between Club Diplomacy and Network Diplomacy: Exploring the Diplomatic Role of Cities in China since 2012

Summary This article addresses the question of whether the emerging role of cities in diplomacy is a reflection of the diplomatic transformation in China, and what the distinctive features are of the diplomatic roles of cities within China’s context. It argues that city diplomacy in China falls between club diplomacy and network diplomacy by exploring five aspects: the number of players, structures, forms, transparency and main purposes. Cities have developed their representation by serving as important agents in managing domestic and international situations, developed their communication channels by contributing in shaping China’s neighbouring diplomacy and global partnerships, and developed their negotiation techniques by participating in reform of global governance system. The article concludes that the diplomatic role of cities in China is to consolidate the social foundation of relations between nations, promote the establishment of a new type of international relations, and promote a community of a shared future for mankind.

City Leaders Go Abroad: A Survey of City Diplomacy in 47 Cities

ABSTRACT Cities are playing an increasingly prominent role on the global policy stage, and in the process have established moreformalised international engagements. However, there is an incomplete understanding about the types and levels of capacity needed for such engagement. This study offers an examination of the underpinnings of “city diplomacy”. It confirms that cities recognise the importance of city diplomacy but also lack necessary resources to fulfill the commitments they make to global agendas . The article calls for action on three fronts : more effective training, formalised multilateral engagement , and stronger city-level diplomatic capacity.

공공외교와 도시외교: 베를린의 도시브랜딩 사례를 중심으로

공공외교와 도시외교: 베를린의 도시브랜딩 사례를 중심으로

The missing link: cities and soft power of nations

This theory-building research identifies how cities generate soft power for nation-states through their communicative and diplomatic practices. Building on the relatively nascent studies of city diplomacy and city branding, the main objective is to establish a taxonomic categorisation of cities as soft power assets. The reason for conducting a research is three-fold. First, the excitement about the potential of cities to lead in providing solutions to global problems overshadows their role as sub-state units. Second, mega-cities and metropolitan areas dominate the research carried. Third, cities and nations do not have to share the same policy priorities, images, or even landscape. Against this background, the research asks one main question: What are the different ways through which cities generate soft power assets? The answer is presented as a taxonomic categorisation that defines five different roles for cities to generate soft power.

Factors of International Activity of Russian Cities: The Results of the Empirical Analysis

The international activities of governments at the subnational level have become widespread practice. Cooperation between local authorities, which began in Europe with the aim of promoting peace, international understanding, and reconciliation between peoples in the post-war period, has spread throughout the world over time. International cityto- city partnerships, also known as sister cities, have become an instrument for promoting economic development. The movement of sister cities is considered not only as a form of cross-border intermunicipal cooperation, but also as one of the aspects of paradiplomacy. One of the consequences of regionalization that swept post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s was the growth of foreign economic activity, international contacts of both Russian regions and cities. This is reflected in the signing of intermunicipal agreements. This research is aimed at determining the factors on which the international activity of Russian cities depends. The theoretical and methodological basis of the work was the concept of paradiplomacy in general and city diplomacy in particular. The author put forward several hypotheses in the framework of the approaches to high international activity of cities existing in the scientific literature. The database was a list of sister cities, including 150 Russian municipalities compiled by the International Association of Related Cities. Statistical calculations were performed by multiple linear regression. As a result of the study, it was found that a large number of sister cities are observed in Russian cities, which can be attributed to megacities and large cities. It was revealed that a high level of international activity of Russian cities is characteristic of municipalities located in border regions. It is shown that economic characteristics directly affect the number of contracts. The author came to the conclusion that the status of the administrative center of Russian regions positively affects on the number of sister cities. The article emphasizes the influence of the historical heritage of territories on the development of inter-municipal cultural cooperation. In conclusion, it is noted that the influence of demographic, geographical, economic, political, legal, and cultural-historical features of municipalities on the number of sister cities does not explain all cases. The author believes that the political factor has a certain explanatory power.

한국 지방정부의 도시외교 활성화 방안: 청주시 사례를 중심으로

한국 지방정부의 도시외교 활성화 방안: 청주시 사례를 중심으로

City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects, edited by Sohaela Amiri and Efe Sevin

City Diplomacy: Current Trends and Future Prospects, edited by Sohaela Amiri and Efe Sevin

Multilateralism Restored? City Diplomacy | in the COVID-19 Era

Summary As the 75th anniversary of the United Nations occurs during one of the worst health and economic crises in modern history, multilateralism is weakened by the renewed unilateralism of major powers. International co-operation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited. This mirrors similar gridlock in collective responses to migration, climate change and humanitarian situations. Meanwhile, cities have been filling gaps in leadership. In responding to the pandemic, cities have been leveraging global co-operation to ensure a successful immediate response and shape the economic recovery. Yet as cities have attempted to insert an urban voice into the traditional multilateral system on global challenges, they have struggled to influence global policy-making. This essay examines how the COVID-19 crisis exposes the implications for the multilateral system of the growing role of cities, and how cities and their networks can adjust their current activities to maximise progress in addressing transnational challenges.

The City of Padang Challenges For Paradiplomacy

&lt;p&gt;International activities of local governments, also known in the literature as paradiplomacy, have significantly increased in the recent years. In Indonesia, local governments are allowed to conduct international relations or city diplomacy in supporting of central government. In doing so, multiple international agreements have been signed by Indonesian local governments, mostly establishing sister city relations. The most active actors on the international stage are big cities, such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Bandung, all situated in Java. This research aims to explore challenges faced by small city, in this case city of Padang in conducting city diplomacy. The authors interviewed public officers in city of Padang and collected secondary data on the topic based on literature study. this article argues that small city has challenges that are not faced by big cities. The study found that small city cannot conduct city diplomacy as well as big cities due to the following factors: lack of awareness of city diplomacy, small number of staff with sufficient knowledge about international relations, and lack of information and idea about the implementation of sister city MoU or action plan and complex bureaucracy procedure in conducting an agreement which potentially less motivate staff in doing paradiplomacy. This article concludes that city of Padang is still working to obtain many agreements in term of sister city while creating many action plans to effectively the agreements.&lt;/p&gt;