City Networking in Europe Rescaling of the state and increased importance of cities in the multi-level system of governance

Abstract

This thesis analyzes city networking from a rescaling perspective, highlighting the shift from government towards non-hierarchical governance, a development shifting political power between different scales. In its most institutionalized form, this development can be found in the EU, where power is moved upwards to the supra-national level and downwards to the sub-national level. As the EU system of governance is inherently multi-level, the international activity of cities can be understood as Europeanization of domestic practices, increasing the connections between the levels of governance and thus the multi-level character of the European political systems. Previous research suggests explanations along two lines; city level variables and country level variables, such as domestic institutional relationships between national and sub-national levels. When using Regional Autonomy Index (RAI), World city index, and years of EU membership to measure cities’ international networking, and thus the interconnectedness between scales, the results point towards the country level variables having more explanatory value. Consequently, the level of networking seems to be conditioned by Europeanization in combination with national institutional relations measured by RAI. A longer history of membership, in combination with more regional autonomy, limits the state ability to act as a gatekeeper and increases the networking. This shows higher adaptation to the multi-level system of governance in accordance with the Europeanization hypothesis.