Canadian twinning in the Indo-Pacific: the agency of subnational actors in present relationships and future strategies

Abstract

Twinning relationships—that is, formalized long-term partnerships between two municipalities or provinces—have been a longstanding facet of Canadian foreign relations. They present a challenge to conceptions of foreign policy limited to sovereign states and national governments, particularly in Canada’s unique federal context, and serve as an entry point to a wider landscape of non-central government diplomacy, paradiplomacies and “other diplomacies.” Yet Canadian twinning relationships in the Indo-Pacific have been sorely understudied and underutilized. We therefore assembled the first comprehensive dataset of Canadian twinning in the Indo-Pacific to give an overview of the actors, drivers, chronology, and geography of these agreements. Many latent opportunities for new twinning and other diplomatic relationships still exist. Putting forward three possible trajectories for the future of Canadian twinning in the Indo-Pacific, we argue that Canada should pursue closer collaboration between federal, provincial and municipal governments and civil society by incorporating them as partners in the Indo-Pacific Strategy.Résumé Les relations de jumelage, c'est-à-dire des partenariats officiels à long terme entre deux municipalités ou provinces, sont depuis longtemps une facette des relations étrangères du Canada. Ils remettent en question les conceptions de la politique étrangère limitées aux États souverains et aux gouvernements nationaux, en particulier dans le contexte fédéral unique du Canada, et servent de point d'entrée à un paysage plus large de diplomatie non gouvernementale, de para-diplomaties et d'« autres diplomaties ». Pourtant, les relations de jumelage canadien dans l'Indopacifique ont été sérieusement sous-étudiées et sous-utilisées. Nous avons donc rassemblé le premier ensemble de données complet sur les jumelages canadiens dans l'Indopacifique pour donner un aperçu des acteurs, des moteurs, de la chronologie et de la géographie de ces accords. De nombreuses opportunités latentes de nouveaux jumelages et autres relations diplomatiques existent encore. Proposant trois trajectoires possibles pour l'avenir du jumelage canadien dans l'Indopacifique, nous soutenons que le Canada devrait poursuivre une collaboration plus étroite entre les gouvernements fédéral, provinciaux et municipaux et avec la société civile en les incorporant comme partenaires dans la Stratégie Indopacifique.Key Words: Twinning, city diplomacy, paradiplomacy, non-central governments, Indo-Pacific StrategyMots-clés : jumelages entre villes; la diplomatie des villes; paradiplomatie; gouvernements non centraux; stratégie Indopacifique

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