Local Government Paradiplomacy in the UK: The Case of the Kent-Virginia Project

Abstract

This article investigates the Kent-Virginia Project, a recent partnership between Kent County Council (KCC) and the US state of Virginia, as a case study of local government paradiplomacy in the UK. It sets the project in the context of the growing international involvement of local government, which has so far largely been neglected in the literature. It seeks to explain why KCC embarked on this initiative and to identify what opportunities and constraints shaped the latter's development. The evidence shows that KCC was primarily motivated by personal and institutional ambition, that decision-making was rather opaque and that communication was highly selective. As a result of its seizing a series of unforeseen opportunities that changed the nature of the project, KCC found itself performing roles traditionally reserved for central government. It also faced, however, severe constraints in terms of maintaining multiple institutional relations as well as managing media and public attitudes to the project. These findings show that UK local government can successfully engage in ambitious paradiplomacy but that such activities take place within an uncertain legal framework and raise both positive and normative questions. The article concludes by suggesting several avenues for further research and by calling for a redefinition of the legal and institutional framework governing the international activities of UK local government.

Key Words:

• Paradiplomacy
• international
• Kent
• Virginia

Notes

We use the term ‘regional’ to refer to the intermediate level of government, including e.g. cantons, provinces, states in federal systems.

The partnership is still ongoing. For the purposes of this article, we focus on the period 2001–08 which comprises the leading up to the project and the main phase of its development.

Formerly the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA).

For an overview of local government in the UK, see, among others, Leach et al. (2006, p. 312–32); more in depth treatments are provided by e.g. Wilson and Game (2002) and Stoker (2003).

The first official annual report and draft international strategy, including activities in Virginia, were presented by KCC in December 2007 (KCC 2007).

Gravesend is the resting place of Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the Algonquian Indians of Virginia, who died during a visit to England in 1616–17.

Louise Kendall stressed that she was speaking in a personal capacity.

See for instance, ‘Counting the costs of globe-trotting officials’, Kentish Express, 6 December 2007 and ‘How much did KCC's trip to the USA cost the public?, Kent News, 26 September 2008.

This happened in the course of the KVP, when Bruce-Lockhart stepped down as KCC leader and Mark Warner was replaced by Tim Kaine as Governor of Virginia.

The Audit Commission awarded it in 2009 the highest rating of four stars for the seventh year running in the government's Comprehensive Performance Assessment, see http://www.kent.gov.uk/your_council/how_the_council_works/council_performance.aspx (15 September 2010).