Does the International Decentralized Cooperation Contribute to Increase State Influence in the Global Arena? An Approach of European Union/Brazil Subnational Relations

The order that emerged after the Cold War is marked by the rise of new autonomous power centers. In this context, the practice of international relations by the State constituent units arises as an important phenomenon: on the one hand, it reflects the private interests of sub-state governments to implement policies for the welfare of their citizens; and, on the other, it functions as a form of power projection as the cooperation actions result in a strengthening of relations established between the subunits and also propagate the image of the State as a whole. The aim of this paper is to verify how the Decentralized International Cooperation managed by subnational units has served to fortify State global insertion capacities. In this sense, the bilateral programs of decentralized cooperation developed between the Brazilian states and some Member States of the European Union in the 1999-2014 period will be analyzed.