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Flanders and Catalonia: The Vanguard of European Sub-state Diplomacy
July 23, 2008. Understanding the texture of diplomatic relations at its various levels is of critical importance, particularly in dealings with federal states. We are now witnessing the 'third wave' in Europe's sub-state diplomacy, with Flanders and Catalonia in the vanguard. In the Dutch journal Internationale Spectator, David Criekemans, Manuel Duran and Jan Melissen argue that regions are of course not states, but that they may benefit from the dialectics of progress in comparison with the diplomacy of European states. Both Catalonia and Flanders are keen to evaluate various forms of diplomatic innovation, with the latter possessing much broader powers in external relations. Download article » (main text in Dutch)