Town-twinning is a way of international cooperation between self-governments at the local level. The town-twinning is based on regular meetings of town representatives and citizens. The other type of international cooperation is the cross-border cooperation that points at common solution of problems in particular border area. The main aim of the town-twinning is information and experience exchange, arrangement of common cultural and sport events, school cooperation and language skills improvement. Thanks to the involvement of citizens in town-twinning activities, the mutual prejudices are eliminated and relations improved. The diploma thesis analyses the town-twinning between Prague and Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Pilsen and Regensburg, Domažlice and Furth im Wald. Thanks to the partnership, the towns and cities can advance their own interests in foreign policy by methods of public diplomacy and paradiplomacy regardless the relations between country governments. The improvement of international relations thanks to the town-twinning can be represented by the relationship between the Czech Republic and the Free State of Bavaria, where the twin towns were constituted without regard to the official policy of the country or the federal state. These contacts at the governmental level were very influenced by...

The Master thesis is dealing with the external policies of the Republic of Tatarstan, a unit of the Russian Federation, and its relations to Turkey, a nation Tatarstan has cultural ties to, in light of the Russo-Turkish conflict following the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet Su-24 by the Turkish army. To answer questions about the influence of national diplomacy over a region's paradiplomacy, and the possibility to conduct independent paradiplomacy in an authoritarian state, speeches given on topics related to Turkey by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov were analysed against the background of the changing Russian relations to Turkey, using the Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis revealed that although Tatarstani paradiplomacy reflects the developments of Russian diplomacy - it is not possible not to, since the decisions of the Federal government are binding for its subjects - President Minnikhanov continued to advocate for a long-term (and as close as possible) cooperation with Turkey regardless of Moscow's current stance. In fact, he was lobbying the Kremlin for this end, trying to influence the Federal diplomacy.

A pesquisa estuda a paradiplomacia que envolve atividades de relação e cooperação internacionais protagonizadas por unidades públicas subnacionais. Identifica ações desenvolvidas por governos locais e regionais de várias partes do mundo e, em particular, as atividades paradiplomáticas realizadas pelas cidades de São Paulo, no Brasil, e Montevidéu, no Uruguai. A paradiplomacia em estado federado envolve as atividades protagonizadas pelos Municípios, Estados e Distrito Federal e, em estados unitários, compreendem as efetuadas pelos municípios. Com base no referencial teórico indicado inicialmente, bem como na quantificação dos governos locais latino-americanos, o trabalho desenvolve reflexões sobre a malha territorial do poder local na América Latina e as atividades paradiplomáticas na região. A pesquisa analisa, igualmente, as modalidades de cooperação (intergovernamental/ intragovernamental e horizontal/vertical) protagonizadas pelas interações ocorridas entre governos locais (municípios), governos regionais (Estados) e a União, identificadas no âmbito da gestão das políticas públicas na federação brasileira. Realiza, em seguida, com base nestas experiências, um esforço para identificar como são estão tais cooperações, quando realizadas no âmbito da paradiplomacia. Por fim, realiza um estudo da paradiplomacia em São Paulo e Montevidéu analisando as atividades desenvolvidas do final da década de 1980 até meados da década de 2000, por meio de entrevistas a 12 atores-chaves destas cidades vinculados às práticas paradiplomáticas realizadas. / The research holds as reference the study of the paradiplomacy involving international relations and cooperation activities staged by subnational government units. It identifies actions developed by local and regional governments from around the world, but specifically the paradiplomatic activities undertaken by the cities of São Paulo, Brazil, and Montevideo, Uruguay. The paradiplomacy in federal states involves activities leaded by municipalities, states and the Federal District, and in unitary states, includes those developed by local governments. Based on the theoretical framework initially referred to, as well as on the quantification of local governments in Latin America, this paper provides reflections on the territorial mesh of local authorities in Latin America and the paradiplomatic activities in the region. The research analyzes, to an equal degree, the types of cooperation (intergovernmental / intragovernmental and horizontal / vertical) led by interactions occurring between local governments (municipalities), regional governments (states) and the Union, identified in the management of public policies in the Brazilian federation. Then, based on these experiences, it undertakes an effort to identify how such cooperation is done, when carried out under the paradiplomacy. Finally, it performs a study on the paradiplomacy of Sao Paulo and Montevideo analyzing the activities developed from the late 1980s to the mid 2000s, through a standard questionnaire administered, to 12 key stakeholders from these cities that identify and hold the executed paradiplomatic practices.

A pesquisa estuda a paradiplomacia que envolve atividades de relação e cooperação internacionais protagonizadas por unidades públicas subnacionais. Identifica ações desenvolvidas por governos locais e regionais de várias partes do mundo e, em particular, as atividades paradiplomáticas realizadas pelas cidades de São Paulo, no Brasil, e Montevidéu, no Uruguai. A paradiplomacia em estado federado envolve as atividades protagonizadas pelos Municípios, Estados e Distrito Federal e, em estados unitários, compreendem as efetuadas pelos municípios. Com base no referencial teórico indicado inicialmente, bem como na quantificação dos governos locais latino-americanos, o trabalho desenvolve reflexões sobre a malha territorial do poder local na América Latina e as atividades paradiplomáticas na região. A pesquisa analisa, igualmente, as modalidades de cooperação (intergovernamental/ intragovernamental e horizontal/vertical) protagonizadas pelas interações ocorridas entre governos locais (municípios), governos regionais (Estados) e a União, identificadas no âmbito da gestão das políticas públicas na federação brasileira. Realiza, em seguida, com base nestas experiências, um esforço para identificar como são estão tais cooperações, quando realizadas no âmbito da paradiplomacia. Por fim, realiza um estudo da paradiplomacia em São Paulo e Montevidéu analisando as atividades desenvolvidas do final da década de 1980 até meados da década de 2000, por meio de entrevistas a 12 atores-chaves destas cidades vinculados às práticas paradiplomáticas realizadas. / The research holds as reference the study of the paradiplomacy involving international relations and cooperation activities staged by subnational government units. It identifies actions developed by local and regional governments from around the world, but specifically the paradiplomatic activities undertaken by the cities of São Paulo, Brazil, and Montevideo, Uruguay. The paradiplomacy in federal states involves activities leaded by municipalities, states and the Federal District, and in unitary states, includes those developed by local governments. Based on the theoretical framework initially referred to, as well as on the quantification of local governments in Latin America, this paper provides reflections on the territorial mesh of local authorities in Latin America and the paradiplomatic activities in the region. The research analyzes, to an equal degree, the types of cooperation (intergovernmental / intragovernmental and horizontal / vertical) led by interactions occurring between local governments (municipalities), regional governments (states) and the Union, identified in the management of public policies in the Brazilian federation. Then, based on these experiences, it undertakes an effort to identify how such cooperation is done, when carried out under the paradiplomacy. Finally, it performs a study on the paradiplomacy of Sao Paulo and Montevideo analyzing the activities developed from the late 1980s to the mid 2000s, through a standard questionnaire administered, to 12 key stakeholders from these cities that identify and hold the executed paradiplomatic practices.

This thesis addresses the question as to why multilevel politics is becoming an integral part of politics in Europe. Multilevel politics is conceptualized as a system which functions through a complex web of political relations within and across levels of decision making. The thesis argues that the rise of multilevel politics can be explained by its institutionalization in terms of the emergence, the evolution and especially the effects of relevant institutions. Based on a mixed-method research project, the influence of European institutions on subnational actors and the alignment of actor motives with institutional characteristics are empirically shown. The first chapter of the dissertation establishes the centrality of institutions for political transformation, examines the role of transnational and domestic institutions for multilevel politics, and contextualizes the research question in terms of institution-actor relations. The second chapter develops a new-institutionalist theoretical framework that explains the emergence, the evolution and the effects of the institutions, and formulates a series of hypotheses with regard to freestanding institutional influence, power distribution, material benefits and political identification. The third chapter outlines the mixed-method research design which addresses individual-level and institutional-level variations through a Europe-wide survey and a comparative case study. The fourth chapter on survey results shows generally favourable views on multilevel politics, and strong associations of these views with the independent variables under scrutiny. The fifth chapter specifies a multivariate model which includes all posited variables and confirms the majority of the hypotheses. Therefore, the new-institutionalist argument is broadly confirmed, while there is relatively weak evidence to sustain sociological explanations. The final chapter compares the Committee of the Regions and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and examines the institutional characteristics which correspond to the hypothesized variables. It is then concluded that the two institutions share several overarching similarities, and display complementarity in other aspects.