Mr. Agustí Fernández de Losada, Coordinator of the Expert Community of Proyecto-ALLAS, recently published a blog article detailing the changing roles of Local Governments in the International Sphere, and how this is shaped by laws and regulations enacted by the central government of different countries.
Mr. Losada puts forth the cases of Spain, Brazil, Italy, France, Mexico and El Salvador. While in some of these countries, restrictions are placed on Local and Regional Governments to keep their participation in the international realm to a minimum, in other contexts the central government encourages and allows for the freedom and autonomy of Local Governments to represent themselves vis-à-vis international actors. It is clear that, in the case of these examples, there is a tendency to recognize the important role that Local Governments should and do play at the international level, and the importance of this is emphasized by Mr. Losada in the conclusion of his text.
To read the entire article (available in Spanish only), please follow this link: http://bit.ly/1nGkd6V
The publication of this text is in the context of the AL-Las project, an initiative funded by the European with the objective of strengthening the dialogue between international actors and local governments of Latin America and supporting their networks and associations in order to improve the quality of their public policy and development. The project is in fact an alliance of cities in Europe and in Latin America, and includes participants from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, France, Spain, and several others.
For more information on the AL-LAs project, please follow this link: www.proyectoallas.net/home