Diplomacia pública de las redes de ciudades europeas. Análisis de la calidad de las relaciones internas. Public diplomacy practice in European city networks. Analysis of the quality of internal relations

Resumo

Cities worldwide have become international political actors who have demonstrated a great ability in mitigating the negative effects of globalization, specially, although not exclusively, in environmental issues. Global issues are hard to deal with alone, so loval governments have voluntarily come together in Transnational City Networks to find reasonable solutions on the ground, by sharing knowledge and experiences, influencing decision making at a higher level and empowering local authorities. City networks, particularly in Europe, have contributed to setting much more ambitious goals than those agreed upon at the national or international level The relationships that cities have forged within TCNs and their collective work, has earned them greater legitimacy as political actors as they represent their values and interests and, ultimately, those of millions of citizens. Relations, when they are of high quality, are inherently valuable and a desirable goal for themselves, as dialogue and interaction benefit those involved and society as a whole. The quality of the relations developed within the networks, among cities and with the Secretariat, have a direct effect on the ability of the network to establish relationships with other international players, such as, European institutions, national governments, etc. Thus, the quality of those relationships is capital, as it is the ground upon which the entire network is based, guaranteeing proper functioning and adequate external representation of the members’ interests. The main objective of this thesis is precisely to study the internal relationships developed in TCNs as they are a guarantee of proper city diplomacy practice. To this end, a practical study is undertaken to evaluate the quality of the internal relations established by three European city networks: Climate Alliance, CEMR and Eurocities. The Relational Theory of Public Relations offers strong theoretical basis for the study of relations, including those developed by public diplomacy practice. It provides solid models for the evaluation of the quality of relations. In particular, Hon and Grunig proposed categories (control mutuality, trust, commitment and satisfaction) and a classification (communal or exchange relations) allow for the study and evaluation of relationship quality, and is used for the case studies presented in this research. Also, for the study of the networked nature of those relations, R. S. Zaharna’s adaptation of Social Network Theory to Public Diplomacy evaluation is applied. The combination of Zaharna’s proposal and the attributes described by Hon and Grunig help to determine the quality of relationships in the selected networks, providing an analysis that offers practical recommendations for both academics and practitioners.