City diplomacy in young democracies: the case of the Baltics

ENThe current processes of urbanization and globalization have resulted in new challenges and opportunities for cities around the globe (Stren and Friendly, Urban Affairs Review 55(2):375–404, 2017). Cities cooperate and collaborate with the aim of solving common problems and share knowledge and competencies. The rapidly changing world, however, has pushed to the forefront the countries of the young democracies (e.g. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, South Korea, and Indonesia) that have been undergoing or have recently undergone dynamic social, legal and political changes (Harasta 2013; Heo 2018). In this chapter, we chose to analyze the Baltic states as representatives of the young democracy countries, more specifically the four cities that participate in the major Eurocities network: the capitals Vilnius (LT), Riga (LV), and Tallinn (ES) as full members, and Klaipeda (LT) as an associated partner. We conclude that cities of the young democracies do not consciously seek to create long-lasting diplomatic relations (Constantinou and Sharp 2016; Berridge, Diplomacy: Theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015; Pouliot and Cornut, Cooperation and Conflict 50:297–315, 2015) for either solving common global problems or buffering serious tensions. Cities mostly create diplomatic ties via town twinning, city networking, and smart city categories for the purposes of knowledge development, cultural or economic affairs (which are based on the performance of NGOs) within the EU.