Diplomacy and Paradiplomacy Sample Clauses

Diplomacy and Paradiplomacy. At the core of the research, as depicted in this chapter, is a general supposition that activities in local government have evolved over the last few decades from purely local or local-­‐to-­‐national, to comprising multiple and complex local-­‐global connections. Local governments are taking on more responsibilities and burdens, with fewer resources, while at the same time extending their reach beyond local borders and outside existing hierarchical government structures. Local officials are becoming empowered actors in their own right on the global stage and engaging in independent action once reserved for state governments. It is therefore helpful to discuss current concepts of what it means for state governments to interact with each other; this can then be expanded into terms relating to multiple actors on the global stage, including the relations that may occur between various levels of different state governments, no longer limited to state-­‐to-­‐state diplomacy. Diplomacy, known as the interaction of nations but also referred to as International Relations, dates back to Greek and Roman times and remains the official form of direct nation-­‐to-­‐nation contact in foreign relations. However, a shift in activity from historical inter-­‐city trade and promotion of marketing and tourism, reaching into the realm of international relations between global and sub-­‐national entities, has progressed beyond the official state boundaries into lower levels of government, down to the lowest levels of city government. As the interaction of cities or local areas is examined with multiple other levels and layers of government and non-­‐government entities, use of the term paradiplomacy (Duchachek, 1986, 1990, Xxxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx, 1990) is helpful to encompass government or political actors other than national governments who are engaging in action relating to foreign or international relations. ‘Global paradiplomacy consists of political contacts with distant nations that bring non-­‐central governments into contact not only with trade, industrial, or cultural centers on other continents… but also with the various branches or agencies of foreign national governments’ (Duchacek, 1986, pp. 246-­‐7). The term reveals a level of diplomacy that local governments are using to engage with other foreign governments, international organisations, foreign local governments, and a myriad of other actors engaging on the global stage. It most clearly implies a type of inter...