Between cooperation and autonomy. An exploration of the external relations of European regions and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Across the world, states have shifted their international activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways. For instance, many governments have offered international aid, closed their borders and gave assistance to key export industries. For sub-state regions, the crisis has also had an impact on their international relations (also referred to as ‘paradiplomacy’). This paper aims to be an early inquiry into the ways that regional governments have adapted, limited and changed their activities abroad in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. To explore this topic, this paper offers empirical evidence from Catalunya, Quebec and Scotland. These regions are among the paradigmatic cases in the study of paradiplomacy, for they have highly developed external relations institutional apparatus, featuring representations abroad, cultural programmes in other countries and frequently send delegations abroad to carry out official affairs. Given the pandemic, so far these regions have curtailed, suspended and cancelled many of their planned activities abroad. Most affected are the areas of culture and trade promotion. But, at the same time, new initiatives have appeared in response to the crisis, such as consolidating their international assistance in new funds (Quebec) and shift their assistance priorities overall (Catalunya). While cooperation between regional and central governments has prevailed, some instances of disagreement over external relations and policy were also visible throughout the early stages of the pandemic (Scotland). Finally, trans-regional policy coordination networks were activated by some of the governments addressed here (notably Catalunya) to exchange with other regional governments best practices to deal with the crisis. As an early exploration of paradiplomacy and the COVID-19 crisis, this paper is not conclusive. Yet its observations point to a consistent drive among these regions to respond to the juncture and to assert their autonomy at the same time. Therefore, many of the initiatives observed in these three regions were cooperative with their respective central government but ultimately centred around their own resources and policy preferences.