EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - City Diplomacy: the expanding role of cities in international politics

City Diplomacy: the expanding role of cities in international politics

Introduction

Although it could be argued that foreign affairs is still primarily a task of national governments and their Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the state is no longer the only actor on the diplomatic stage. Associations of states, NGOs and multinational corporations, for example, increasingly play a role in diplomacy. Despite substantial attention for these three groups of new actors, academic discussion has focused less on the increasing role of another actor in diplomacy, namely the city. This omission is remarkable given the increasing importance of cities around the world.

Description

This paper aims to fill a gap in the academic literature on diplomacy by introducing the concept of city diplomacy, defined as the institutions and processes which cities, or local governments in general, engage in relations with actors on an international political stage with the aim of representing themselves and their interests to one another. It will be argued that city diplomacy is a professional, pragmatic and upcoming diplomatic activity on the international political stage with the aim of representing themselves and their interests to one another. It will be argued that city diplomacy is a professional, pragmatic and upcoming diplomatic activity on the current international political stage, which is changing and will continue to change current diplomatic processes. In doing so, the paper first outlines the theoretical background of city diplomacy. Subsequently, the six most important dimensions of city diplomacy are discussed (security, development, economy, culture, networks and representation). Finally, some concluding remarks are provided and suggestions for further research are made.

Conclusions

Four main conclusions can be drawn from this research.

Cities seem to participate in almost every stage of international politics; either marginally or considerably, either formally or informally. In doing so, cities are changing and will continue to change current diplomatic processes. However, major decisions on the international political scene are still taken by state representatives.
This paper illustrates the growing professionalization of cities' international activities. Although various cities still participate in international politics on an ad-hoc basis, many have professional civil servants dedicating their time to establishing a coherent municipal foriegn policy.
There is a visible trend from idealism to pragmatism in cities' diplomatic activities. This may be a result of an overall trend in societies away from the idealistic norms and values of the 1960s and 1970s to the more individualistic and realistic stance of the 1990s.
It should not be overlooked that city diplomacy is still in its infancy. As a result, many inconveniences still have to be overcome. For example, city diplomacy is still very much oriented towards the short term.

One question that remains is how big the influence of cities on international politics really is. To be able to answer this question, tangible results of various diplomatic activities undertaken by cities are needed. This requires empirical research.

Contact info

Clingendael - Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Clingendael 7
2597 VH The Hague
The Netherlands
Phone: 31-70-324 53 84
Fax: 31-70-328 20 02
info@clingendael.nl
www.clingendael.nl
Jan Melissen (Director Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme)

Publication date

01/04/2007

Researcher

Rogier van der Pluijm and Jan Melissen

Article info
ISBN: 978-90-5031-116-8

Links

Click here to visit the website of the Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme

Click here to download the article "City Diplomacy: the expanding role of cities in international politics" (PDF, Eng, 238 kB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords