Introduction

The previous chapter pointed out the ontological persistence of the urban in a globalised world. As discussed, cities, while embedded in the global flows, still maintain their distinctive identity. In this chapter,1 I will still keep the focus on the international dimension, but I will shift the analytical object from cities’ identity to cities’ agency. In particular, in what follows, the international standing of cities, acquired through their paradiplomatic practices, will be extensively analysed.

Thirty years ago, Ivo D. Duchacek (1987, p 2) peremptorily asserted that ‘international activities of noncentral governments rarely make the first page of national dailies’. To date, this statement no longer reflects the political role of local authorities: once neglected actors in the Grand Politics of international affairs, local authorities appear to have made their way out of the oblivion. Going beyond the loose relations of the 20th century's ententes amicales, now local authorities deploy instruments and practices proper of the international diplomatic repertoire. This is especially true in Europe, where cities have engaged in a swath of state-like activities, including the creation of and participation in town twinning, networks and ‘multilateral organisations’, as well as the signature of ‘bilateral cooperation agreements’ (La Porte, 2013, p 90).

As already mentioned, the return of cities to the political scene has rekindled scholarly interest in the urban dimension. Local authorities have come to be understood by scholars and commentators as fully-fledged governing units, distinctive from nation-states, endowed of their own decision-making capacity and embedded in a specific political, socioeconomic and cultural context. This characterisation of cities is evident in the terminology employed in political science, geography and urban studies. Terms such as ‘actors’, ‘players’, ‘policy-makers’ – instead of ‘policy-takers’ (Kern, 2009, p 1; Le Galès and Harding, 1998, p 122; Le Galès, 2002, p 7; Schultze, 2003, p 121), as implicitly assumed by much of state-centred theories – are just but a few examples of epitomes used to underscore the proactive political role of cities. Especially in the European Union (EU), local authorities have been able to restore their political influence, developing relations with other European cities and with the EU through inter-urban organisations such as the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, or networks such as Eurocities.