The literature on international relations extensively examines the role and interactions of sub-state and non-state actors in the international arena. A first formulation is that of J. Nye with the concept of soft power, which will inspire, among other things, the public diplomacy of the United States. Similarly, this author would later propose a strategic …
Category: Urban Diplomacy
Beyond city diplomacy: Urban diplomacy as a translation of active subsidiarity
Originally posted by RSA Blog (September 2021) The approval of the UN Urban Agenda and the European Urban Agenda in 2016 reveal the growing importance of cities all around the world. Moreover, at the international level, cities are speaking up for themselves and by themselves. It is clear in the different COPs and even more …
Are cities cool? Insights for Urban Agendas
Originally posted at Atlantic Cities’ Blogactiv (October 2017) Written at the request of the publishers The title of the book “Cool Cities”, written by Benjamin Barber, plays with the different dimensions of climate change that can be tackled at local level and even the mood for doing it. It is thus, an integrated metaphor of …
Searching for Synergies on Climate Change Strategies
Initially published by YPLD and republished in Atlantic Cities’ blog (September 2014) Many studies affirm the importance of the local level when tackling climate change. Cities concentrate the most part of the population, the energy consumption and the pollution due to transports. Thus, local authorities are the best placed to find significant tools to reduce the …
No city is an island
Originally posted in Atlantic Cities’ blog (August 2014) Cooperation has become, in EU jargon, an unavoidable word. At the same time, together with the progression made by cohesion policy, the urban dimension has turned the hottest point in the European agenda. So even if the crisis makes individual strategies more tempting, the time has come …
Participatory Budgeting: Lisbon
A notorious pioneer in social innovation, Lisbon was the first European Capital in implementing the participatory budgeting. Up to an amount equivalent to 5% of the investment budget (which until this issue has been of five million euros) the Lisbon Participatory Budget (PB) runs along a cycle with several phases. As it is completely based …
Kickstart your International Project
When working at an international level, “I have a project” is a recurring statement. However, many times the speaker has only “an idea for a project” or “a goal to be achieved by a project”. Therefore, setting the stage of what a project is comes as a natural step. In simple terms, an international project …
Wooing an EU call for projects
Every first comer to EU projects asks the same question: how can I get some funds? At first, we should make the difference, in a broad picture, between funds directly managed by the European Commission and those in charge of national /regional managing authorities. And then try to find synergies between the initiativewe want to upgrade …
The only EU Project vocabulary you will ever need (II)
Last week I was in my cloud, trying to convey the same messages I give to my students when explaining the beauty (and the beast) of European projects. Half of the cloud is still to be decrypted: – Cross-cutting: the project proposal has to focus, but it can’t be self-centered. It has to demonstrate impact …