Polycentric Governance, Paradiplomacy, and the Sustainable Development Goals: The Cases of Quebec and Barcelona in Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Global governance is increasingly characterized by polycentric approaches that incorporate diverse perspectives and actors across multiple scales. Focusing on the intersection of polycentrism, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and paradiplomacy, this paper addresses how subnational governments (i.e., regional and local governments) use paradiplomacy to advance SDGs. Although previous literature recognizes the role of subnational actors in these interconnected processes, it remains too focused on local implementation processes and scarcely addresses their international action in the achievement of SDGs. Against this backdrop, by means of a descriptive and explanatory analysis, this paper advances a theoretical and empirical contribution in a three-step process: (1) it shows how the Sustainable Development Goals framework stimulates polycentric governance structures that favor paradiplomacy practices towards this achievement; (2) offers a descriptive typology of the paradiplomacy strategies and practices endorsed by subnational governments and (3) provides empirical evidence on paradiplomacy strategies and practices in the cases of Québec and Barcelona towards the advancement of SDG 5 on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. The analysis demonstrates how the combination of polycentric governance and paradiplomacy fosters innovative approaches to achieving the SDGs while also highlighting the pivotal role of paradiplomacy in enabling subnational governments to engage in global governance.