National frameworks for regional paradiplomacy in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia in comparative perspective

ABSTRACT

This article offers a comparative analysis of the institutional frameworks for paradiplomacy undertaken by regions in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The national frameworks are compared according to the following criteria: First, the legal competences of the regions regarding international cooperation with foreign partners in parallel with national diplomacy; second, European policy, through which two correlated sub-criteria are examined, first, how much access and autonomy regions have to manage EU funds at the national level, and second, the regions’ paradiplomacy at the EU level; and third, the relations between the regions and their national government, which are identified through the following two sub-criteria, first, government supervision of regional paradiplomacy, and second, government support for regional paradiplomacy. The article seeks to identify the degree of central government interference in the foreign activities of the regions, or the degree of their independence in conducting paradiplomatic activities in parallel with national diplomacy.Finally, this article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the more centralist model of intergovernmental relations in paradiplomacy characteristic of Poland compared to the more liberal model found in this analysis in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

KEYWORDS:

• Comparative analysis
• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Slovakia
• regional paradiplomacy
• intergovernmental relations in paradiplomacy

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Vít Dostál, Director of the Research Centre at the Association for International Affairs, Prague, and Bartek Ostrowski, Expert Consultant in International Projects, Wroclaw, for their valuable comments on the draft version of this article, which significantly contributed to its final form.

Disclosure statements

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research presented in this article is a partial result of the research project “Slovak-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: factors and perspectives, policy implications”, implemented by the Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Prešov, and funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency (Project No. APVV-21-0057).

Notes on contributors

Alexander Duleba

Alexander Duleba is a professor at the Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Prešov; he is a political scientist specializing in international relations.