Chapter

Legal Framework, Institutionalization, Tools, and Motives of Palestine’s Paradiplomacy

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Abstract

This chapter aims to provide a basis for a better understanding of the Palestinian paradiplomacy in historical, legal, and institutional terms. This chapter will be the first attempt to look into Palestinian paradiplomacy with focus on the political motive pioneered by its main actor: that of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and later that the creation of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA); moreover, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (PMOFA) created the International Cooperation Agency (PICA) which will be briefly touched upon. Inspired by “Theory and Practice of Paradiplomacy: Subnational Governments in International Affairs” by Alexander S. Kuznetsov (Theory and Practice of Paradiplomacy. Subnational Governments in International Affairs. London, New York: Routledge, 2015), this chapter will try to explore the Palestinian paradiplomacy and how it evolved throughout the years. Its progress shall be explained in two phases: Pre-Oslo and Post-Oslo Palestinian paradiplomacy. Palestine has a unique nature in its paradiplomacy activity and evolution. It was found necessary to consider the separatist dimension in examining paradiplomacy in Palestine. The approach of the problem of non-recognized states has definitely a tight linkage with contemporary discussions and researches on such urgent political topics as human rights and self-determination of peoples. The examination of de facto states through paradiplomacy is the logical consequence of the existent nature of state recognition mechanism in world politics.KeywordsPalestinePLOPICAOsloBrandingDiplomacy

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... For instance, Kamiński (2018) employed it to broaden the discourse on paradiplomacy to encompass the East Asian region. Similarly, scholars such as Cantir (2015), Alibalaev (2022), Iriqat (2023) or Arteev and Klyszcz (2023), among others, have utilized Kuznetsov's framework as a guiding principle in their research endeavors. ...
... In recent years, there has also been an increasing trend to open up the concept of paradiplomacy, which was at times considered Western-oriented (Kamiński 2018, 26) or even Europe-focused (Jackson 2018, 4;Alvarez 2020, 3). Research conducted in Asia, by Kamiński (2018) or Iriqat (2023), has provided important insights that call into question the long-held assumption that paradiplomacy is only reserved for highly decentralized and democratic countries (Kuznetsov 2014, 108). ...
Thesis
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