City power and human rights – Common intersections, organisations, alliances

Abstract

The rise of globalisation, metropolitanisation and networks has significantly increased the prominence of cities in global diplomacy and enhanced their recognition as emerging international actors. As a consequence, subnational actors are “claiming a seat at the table” in the shaping of international agendas, underlining the growing visibility of cities at the forefront of inclusive and sustainable development. The study of city-to-city relations has emerged as a key priority in the 21st century where cities are increasingly seen as representing significant economic and political power besides nations and regions. Cooperative networks between cities transcend the limitations of the nation-state-centric multilateral system, with soft power politics mobilised as a privileged tool by international organisations to achieve their common goals.

This paper addresses the practice of soft power in the form of urban diplomacy in the international political arena, embedding human rights based urban policies in the urban sustainability goals frameworks defined by international agendas. To this end, it examines the contribution of EU-level and global city-to-city alliances to the implementation of international agendas and participatory democracy, and on the other hand, it presents an overview of city alliances dedicated to the safeguarding of human rights in order to demonstrate the growing prominence of the international role of cities. We see city diplomacy via networking as an efficient means of channelling local interests into the global arena, which, combined with global agendas, can enable cities to obtain additional development funding, and in the light of current trends, it may also shift the future of global cooperation towards a networked, more effective and inclusive multilateralism.