Michelle Egan, The paradiplomatic strategies of California and Illinois to the EU
鈥淢ade in the USA? The paradiplomatic strategies of California and Illinois to the EU鈥
While scholarship on paradiplomacy鈥攖he involvement of non-central governments in international relations鈥攙is-脿-vis the European Union has primarily focused on European regions, a new article co-authored by SIS Professor Michelle Egan in the journal Territory, Politics, Governance analyzes third-country subnational engagement with the EU and assesses the paradiplomatic strategies of two US states: California and Illinois. Although both states engage with the EU for economic reasons rather than for interest representation, Illinois prioritizes market access, while California focuses on regulatory issues. Drawing on the multilevel governance and paradiplomacy literatures, the authors examine the impact of these paradiplomatic efforts on state鈥揻ederal relations.
In the article, part of a Special Issue titled 鈥淏etween Cooperation and Conflict: Explaining Differentiation in Regional Paradiplomacy towards the EU in Federal and Regionalised States (1992-2022),鈥 Egan and her co-authors find that Illinois鈥 subnational diplomacy benefits from state鈥揻ederal dynamics of benign neglect, while California鈥檚 subnational initiatives involve both benign neglect and federal bypassing. They unveil the determinants of these patterns of state鈥揻ederal relations, and identify five explanatory factors: constitutional competences, political leadership, entrepreneurship, party politics and market size.
Read the article .