Paradiplomacy, Knowledge Regions and the Consolidation of Soft Power

Abstract

The paper analyses the nature and features of the Knowledge Regions and their emergence in the international system as strategic players in the process of glocalization, strongly anchored in the creation of dense knowledge networks and the development of an active paradiplomacy which enables the regions to project externally their specific interests and to reinforce their influence in the process of multilevel governance functioning as strategic brokers between the global and the local. In this context the paper discusses the implications of the paradiplomacy of sub-national governments to the foreign policies of central governments and argues that not only paradiplomacy does not present a risk to the coherence of foreign policy but constitutes a major factor for the consolidation of the soft power of states.