Paradiplomacy throws up fresh challenges for the Indian government.
PM Narendra Modi at 11th meeting of the Inter State Council
Wikipedia
This commentary is part of a project on paradiplomacy. The first part can be found here.
While the Modi government can be credited for bringing paradiplomacy to the center-stage of Indian policy-making, the idea of international relations being forged at the subnational level is not a new one. With the growing policymaking capacity of sub-state entities paradiplomacy can be employed by states, provinces and even cities both in federal as well as unitary states for solving diplomatic issues.
The concept of paradiplomacy was first proposed in 1990 by John Kincaid, an American scholar who outlined a foreign policy role for local governments within a democratic federal system. Economic paradiplomacy related to trade and investment in particular has become an institutionalised practice across the world – in federal states like the United States, Canada and Belgium, quasi-federal states like Spain, non-federal states like Japan and even non-democratic states like the People’s Republic of China.
Paradiplomacy can be employed with a variety of aims which can range from bringing in a decentralised dimension to international debates to internationalisation of domestic issues by bringing regional issues on the global stage, promoting trade, tourism, cultural ties and even post-conflict reconciliation to local political activism being sought for international support. Subnational relations can also be conducted to promote and attract investments seeking region-specific economic advantages.
In more ways than one, paradiplomacy owes its origins to globalisation. As the world economy has become increasingly global and increasingly integrated in a variety of ways, sub-national units (regions, states, provinces and even cities) find their functions and activities circumscribed by the global system. Federalism is also a key contributor to the growth of paradiplomacy. Sub-national actors such as states and provinces which have a formal legal personality are necessarily more likely to engage in international activities designed to promote and protect local and international interests and prerogatives. The case of Sao Paolo is particularly interesting in this context.
Sao Paolo as an Exemplar
Sao Paulo in recent years has drawn international attention for its aggressive and successful efforts at “city diplomacy”. With support from Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the São Paulo state government passed a decree in 2012 adopting its own plan for conducting international relations. The plan’s 54 goals included foreign investment and loan targets and ways to boost foreign-language education. The state has become one of the few federated states in the world to establish clear guidelines on how to act externally.
The sprawling metropolis has over 50 consulates – the second largest consular corps in the world behind New York City, while capital Brasilia hosts 100 embassies. In 2013, the State of São Paulo became the first subnational government in the Southern Hemisphere to sign direct bilateral agreements with the United States and Britain. Since then it has signed more international agreements (50 per year), received more foreign delegations (on average 450 per year), and managed more international cooperation programmes (150) than any other regional governor in Latin America. It is second among the top Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destinations in the Americas, closely following New York.
The Indian experience
The distribution of legislative powers between the Union and states in India is quite explicit. A threefold distribution of legislative powers between the two (Art 246) is envisaged in the Indian Constitution. Foreign affairs, diplomatic, consular and trade representation, participation in international conferences, entering into treaties and agreements with foreign countries and implementation of treaties, agreements, and conventions with foreign countries, foreign jurisdiction and trade and commerce with foreign countries, import and export are the areas where only the Union government is competent to legislate.
No comments:
Post a Comment