Documentos CIDOB Europa, n.º 7

The consequences of globalisation transform the role of the territory, while strategies of connectivity with the exterior determine its centrality. The aim of this document is to contribute to the debate on the different roles being adopted by sub-state levels of government as a new world order is being constructed, one that has now become multipolar, multi-level and organised into a network, and in which the new actors of the system international have a role to play. In Catalonia, developing technical reliability, theoretical rigor and coordination of the different actors of external action corresponds to, and is coherent with, the desire (shared by the different administrations and Catalan civil society) to continue to play a leading role on the international stage. We have to carry this out responsibly and with a better knowledge of the complex framework of actors that comprise international relations today by attempting to consolidate a space for frank dialogue and agreement with the states – the central actors of the international system - and, at the same time, to improve the functional organisation of multi-level government. However, in Catalonia – a country that is advanced in this field – there is still a lack of coherence and coordination between the different levels of the administration, as well as a lack of political maturity and the will to join forces in external action. An external action that plays a strategic role in competitiveness and social cohesion, and which would project Catalonia into the future as a society in transformation, one that is cosmopolitan and open to the great challenges of a globalisation that exist in regional areas, in the great metropolitan capitals, and in the more immediate setting of our local neighbourhoods.

Key words: Global governance, world order, international system, external action, new actors, sub-state governments, multi-level governance, paradiplomacy, territorial cooperation, decentralised cooperation, Catalonia, Barcelona.

ISSN: 1886-2829 (print edition)
ISSN: 1886-2837 (online edition)

64 pp.