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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The European Union as a laboratory of paradiplomacy in the context of international and domestic determinants of regions’ foreign activities

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The aim of this article is to propose an analytical framework of the EU as a laboratory of paradiplomacy in context of international and domestic determinants of the regions’ foreign activities. The article shades some light on the definitions of paradyplomacy, which allow to understand the ambiguity of the status of regions in international relations. Firstly, the dimensions and types of paradiplomacy are identified. Secondly, the discourse concerning international and domestic determinants of international engagement of regional governments is identified. Then, the framework of the EU as a laboratory of paradiplomacy is explained in the three subsequent parts. Firstly, the EU is referred to as an intermestic determinant of paradiplomacy, what results from the specific nature of the EU that corresponds with the international and domestic determinants of paradiplomacy in general. Secondly, the EU is addressed as an arena of paradiplomacy where various patterns of regional governments’ presence in Brussels are tested. Finally, paradiplomacy in the EU is addressed as a scholarly challenge for the further research.