"Paradiplomacy and international conflict: disengagement from China by Swedish local governments" - by Björn Jerdén

September 16, 2024
China–Sweden relations

This article analyzes the development of paradiplomatic relations between subnational governments in China and Sweden. The empirical material comprises official documents, media reports, and interviews, and correspondence with local decision makers. Following steady growth in the 1990s and 2000s, the number of paradiplomatic agreements between the two countries declined dramatically at the end of the 2010s. To our knowledge, this extensive “local decoupling” is unprecedented, at least in the history of modern paradiplomacy between Europe and China. The decline can primarily be explained by three interrelated factors: worsening bilateral relations between Sweden and China, growing Swedish concern about the human rights situation in China, and the lack of activity in some of the cooperation projects. Rather than pursuing goals such as peacebuilding and economic benefit, generally described as the main drivers behind local governments’ international activities, several subnational governments in Sweden deemed it appropriate to terminate cooperation with their Chinese counterparts due to other concerns. This development demonstrates the usefulness of a more constructivist perspective of paradiplomacy.

Paradiplomacy and international conflict: disengagement from China by Swedish local governments

Björn Jerdén is Director of the Swedish National China Centre. Björn has a PhD in Political Science from Stockholm University and a master’s degree in International Relations from Malmö University. He has been a guest researcher at National Chengchi University, National Taiwan University, National Chengkung University and Harvard University. From 2016 to 2020, Björn was the head of the Asia Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.  

Areas of expertise: Security politics, great power politics, China, Japan, the United States

Photo Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/China_Sweden_Locator.svg/500px-China_Sweden_Locator.svg.png

Björn Jerdén