Revisiting the Evolution of Regional Paradiplomacy Towards the EU: a Comparative Analysis
In recent decades, paradiplomacy has emerged as an increasingly important subject of scholarly inquiry and political practice, particularly within the multilevel governance architecture of the European Union (EU).
Yet, despite the field’s expanding empirical scope, theoretical development has not kept pace. This report seeks to address that imbalance by summarizing the key findings of the research project Between Cooperation and Conflict: Explaining Strategies of Regional Paradiplomacy Towards the EU in Regions Inside, Outside, and in Transition (1992–2022), supported by the Coppieters Foundation between 2021 and 2024. In doing so, it provides a systematic conceptual and empirical framework for analysing regional external action towards the EU.
The project was coordinated by Sandrina Antunes (Universidade do Minho, CICP, Portugal), Noé Cornago (University of the Basque Country/UPV-EHU, Spain), Carolyn Rowe (Aston University, United Kingdom), and Rachel Minto (Cardiff University, United Kingdom). It brought together a multidisciplinary team of scholars from institutions across Europe and North America, including André Lecours (University of Ottawa, Canada), Elin Royles (Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom), Maria Helena Guimarães (Universidade do Minho, Portugal), Michel Huysseune (VUB, Belgium), Michelle Egan (American University, United States), and Stéphane Paquin (École Nationale d’Administration Publique, Canada).
Conceptually, the study moves beyond the conventional opposition between paradiplomacy and protodiplomacy by proposing a more differentiated continuum encompassing five outcomes of paradiplomacy for substate intergovernmental relations, ranging from cooperation to conflict, benign neglect, and bypassing. Drawing on a comparative analysis of 10 regions (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Wallonia, Brussels; Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Scotland, Wales, California, and Illinois) situated inside, outside, and in transition vis-à-vis the EU, across five states (Spain, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States of America).
The project’s findings have been disseminated in two principal formats. First, they were published in Territory, Politics, Governance, Volume 12, Issue 10 (2024). Second, they were published in book form by Routledge in 2026 under the title Between Cooperation and Conflict: Strategies of Regional Mobilization Towards the EU, edited by Sandrina Antunes, Noé Cornago, Carolyn Rowe, and Rachel Minto.
This report is intended to offer a summary of the findings. The report is structured as follows. It first sets out the central research problem, the conceptual framework, and the study’s analytical contribution. It then proceeds through five paired empirical case studies, each addressing a distinct manifestation of paradiplomatic engagement towards the EU: Catalonia and the Basque Country; Wallonia and Brussels; Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg; Scotland and Wales; and California and Illinois. The report ends with concluding remarks that synthesize the main findings and discuss their implications for the study of paradiplomacy, multilevel governance, and regional external action towards the EU.
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This paper is a initiative of Coppieters Foundation.
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This paper is financially supported by the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not liable for the content of the event nor for the opinions of the speakers.
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Photo by Magnific / Freepick
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