This diploma thesis determines the foreign activities of municipalities in South Bohemia and Plzeň region (i.e. paradiplomacy) and so by the analysis of cross-border municipal partnerships. The term paradiplomacy is defined, European regional policy, possibilities of financial support of mentioned activities and institutionalized forms of co-operation among municipalities are presented. Special attention is given primarily to the cross-border partnerships that are the main subject of interest of the diploma thesis. The thesis is based on an analytical-empirical approach. There are also used the methods of comparative politics and statistical and mathematical methods for evaluation of data.

Diploma thesis deals with city to city partnership. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the impact of the projects based on city to city partnership. The theoretical part defines cross-border cooperation and town-twinning activities. The analytic part contains a case study of Krnov. In first part it focuses on evaluation of cross-border cooperation between the Czech Republic and Poland. In second part, there is a description and evaluation of town-twinning activities and projects. A questionnaire survey is used to evaluate the relationship between partner cities. The analysis of this survey outlines the main motives, benefits and barriers of town-twinning. Another factor influencing intensity of partnership has resulted beyond literary research.

The theme of this diploma thesis will be an introduction of a process of municipalities involvement in international relationships for which a term paradiplomacy has been established. The aim of the thesis is to point out the origins of formation of intercommunal cooperation between the villages of canton Bern and South Bohemia. A case study of a chosen South Bohemian city Sezimovo Ústí and Swiss village Thierachern will be used. Mapping of the first steps in the nineties of the twentieth century which lead to relationship establishment and its progressive development until now will be necessary. Interviews with representatives of both municipalities using an oral history method will become an integral part of this thesis. Methods of politology, history and sociology will be used to write this diploma thesis.

The neighboring towns of Haparanda and Tornio are divided by the border between Finland and Sweden in the southern part of the Torne River. The two cities have worked closely together for the past decades and have in recent times virtually “grown together”. In recent years the cities have arranged a joint new year’s celebration called Happy New Twice. The purpose of this thesis is to study potential challenges that arose during the planning and execution of Happy New Twice 2019; and if intercultural challenges can have an effect on the interaction across the border. The empirical material is based on three semi-structured interviews that later were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. To examine the participants’ experiences working with Happy New Twice, the theoretical framework of this thesis is drawn from the approach of Nederveen Pieterse’s theory Globalization as Hybridization, Iben Jensen’s analytical tools for intercultural communication, Jarosław Jańczak’s studies on town twinning in Europe and Philip Kotler’s marketing theory place branding. The results show that while the interaction across borders is working fine between the two cities, there are still challenges with joint events, such as Happy New Twice. Even though Happy New Twice is a popular event, it can be difficult to make the event feel mutually acknowledging of both cities. There are also external factors such as the time difference and the covid-19 pandemic that can affect events like Happy New Twice in the future. Despite these challenges, HaparandaTornio has used the multiculturalism of the area in a positive aspect and the cities have been able to use it as part of their place branding.

The goal of this thesis is to describe establishment, development and forms of town twinnig. There is described development, definitions, benefits and forms of town twinning in the theoretical part. There are presented international organisations supporting town twinning too and also there is described a programm called "Town Twinning". Practical part is devoted to description of activities among choosen towns - Hradec Králové, Kostelec nad Orlicí, Vamberk and Albrechtice nad Orlicí. There are some proposals how to support tourism with these partner towns too.

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 dissertation Rapprochement from below? German-French town twinning from 1950 to 2000 is a historiographic study that focuses on town twinning as a specific aspect of German-French co-operation in the second half of the 20th century. The topic is analysed in a wider German-French context and based on statistical data as well as archive sources. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of high-level bilateral relations on German-French town twinning, identify the motivation of its supporters and compare German-French town twinning in the West-German and East-German federal states. Additionally, the localisation of town twins was studied for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.