PhD Programme on Comparative and European Politics Center for the Study of Political Change (Circap) Faculty of Political Science University of Siena The international role of cities: Decentralized cooperation between domestic concerns and symbolic politics Ph.D. Student: Ma. Eugenia Iocco Supervisor: Ernesto D’Albergo 2005 Abstract The term Decentralized Cooperation emerged in the 1980s associated with the mutual relations between municipal twinings. Since then the concept of Decentralized Cooperation has been continuously evolving and today seems to merge two parent fields: development cooperation and international municipal relations. However, thus far it is still veiled which are the motivations that engage European cities to adopt a decentralized cooperation policy. In this thesis we have carried out a thorough study and analysis of these motivations and demonstrate that behind any international aid program including decentralized cooperation, self interest aspects prevail. In other worlds, most of the donor’s assistance is ultimately driven by selfish stimulus that can be manifested in different ways. This claim is based on a comparative analysis among the decentralized cooperation activities of Rome and Madrid. 1 Table of Contents List of Acronyms List of Figures and Tables Introduction ................................................................................................................ 9 I. Basic concepts ……………………………………………………………….……17 1.1 The adaptation of cities to the international scenario 1.2 Cities’ international strategies 1.3 The decentralized cooperation model II. Decentralized cooperation and the internationalization of Rome ………..…. 39 2.1 The international strategy of Rome 2.2 Main characteristics of decentralized cooperation III. Decentralized cooperation and the internationalization of Madrid …………57 3.1 The international strategy of Madrid 3.2 Main characteristics of decentralized cooperation IV. The domestic concern as a motivation to develop DC activities ………….…. 77 4.1 Geographic proximity 4.2 Historic-cultural links 4.3 Economic interest V. The symbolic politics of decentralized cooperation ……………………………96 5.1 Strengthening legitimacy 5.2 Political visibility (media coverage) 5.3 Local leaderships 2 VI. Conclusion and discussion …… ……………………………………………….. 112 VII. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………..…..…116 Interviews ………………………………………………………………….……..….124 3 List of Acronyms ACEA: Azienda Comunale Energia e Ambiente ACP: African, Caribbean and Pacific countries AECI: Spanish Agency of International Cooperation ALA: Asia and Latin America Program ALFA: América Latina Formación Académica AMA: Azienda Municipale Ambiente ANCI: National Association of Italian Cities CAD: Committee Aid for Development CAM: Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid CCRE: Council of European Municipalities and Regions COCIS: Coordinamento delle ONG per la Cooperazione Internazionale allo Sviluppo CoR: Committee of the Regions DAC: Development Cooperation Directorate DC: Decentralized Cooperation DGCS: Direzione Generale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo DGDC: Directorate-General for Development Cooperation) EC: European Commission ECOMED: Agency for the Promotion of Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Area EU: European Union FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization FARMACAP: Azienda Speciale Farmacosociosanitaria del Comune di Roma FEMP: Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias FMCU: The World Federation of United Cities FONGDCAM : Federacion de ONG de Desarrollo de la Comunidad de Madrid IFAD: International Found for Agricultural development IGR: Intergovernmental Relations IODC: Inter-regional Observatory for Development Co-operation ISPA: Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession IULA: International Union of Local Authorities 4 LDCs: Least Developed Countries LIFE III: Financial Instrument for the Environment LMICs: Low- and Middle-Income Countries MAE: Ministerio degli Affair Esteri MDGs: Millennium Development Goals MDP: Municipal Development Program MEDA: Mesures D’accompagnement Techniques et Financière MFA: Ministry of Foreign Affairs NAIM: National Association of Italian Municipalities NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGOs: Non-Governmental Organizations OCT: Overseas Countries and Territories ODA: Official Development Aid OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OICI: Organizacion Iberoamericana de Cooperacion Internacional PDHL: Programa de Desarrollo Humano Local PECOs: Países de Europa Central y Oriental PHARE: Poland and Hungary Action for the Restructuring of the Economy POLIS : Promotion of Operational Links with Integrated Systems PRODERE: Programa para los Desplazados y los Refugiados SAPARD: Special Accession Programme for Agriculture & Rural Development TACIS: Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent State UCCI: Union de Ciudades Capitales Iberoamericanas UCLG: United Cities and Local Governments UCUE : Union of Capital Cities of Europe UN: United Nations UNDP: United Nations Development Program UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund UNOPS: Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite per i Servizi ed i Progetti/ United Nations Office for Project Services UPI: Union of Italian Provinces 5 URI: Ufficio Relazioni Internazionali WACLAC: World Association of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination WB: World Bank WFP: UN World Food Program WHO: World Health Organization 6 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1.1 . General framework for understanding DC activities. Figure 1.2 . Operationalization of variables. Figure 2.1 . Normative frame on decentralized cooperation in Italy. Figure 2.2. The Italian system of development cooperation. Figure 2.3 . Volume of Italian decentralized cooperation activities. Figure 2.4 . Annual budget distribution for decentralized cooperation activities by Italian regions. Figure 2.5. Decentralized cooperation structure of Rome municipality. Figure 3.1. Budget of Spanish decentralized cooperation activities. Figure 4.1. Decentralized cooperation activities: municipality of Rome and Madrid. Figure 4.2. Map of the ex-Spanish colonies. Figure 4.3. Maps of the ex-Italian colonies. Figure 4.4. Migration flows of Rome on 2003. Figure 4.5. Immigrant population by geographic zone of origin in Madrid. Figure 4.6. Evolution of the main nationality of origin in Madrid. Figure 4.7. Economic relations with Latin America. Figure 5.1. Matrix of decentralized cooperation as part of the World Bank’s Municipal Development Program. Figure 5.2. Regional distribution of disasters (1994-2003). Figure 6.1. Steering Variable. Figure 6.2. Prevailing strategies and independents variables. Table 1.1. Main EU Programs available to local administrations. Table 1.2. Comparative conceptual analysis of decentralized cooperation. Table 1.3 . Essential features of decentralized cooperation in the EU. Table 1.4. Geographical distribution of decentralized cooperation activities. Table 3.1. International organizations for local development. Table 3.2. Levels, institutions and department in Spanish developing cooperation. Table 3.3. Normative table of decentralized cooperation. 7 Table 3.4. Inter annual increase (in percent) of development cooperation aid in the region of Madrid. Table 3.5. Budget of some major municipalities in 2001. Table 3.6. Budget of the municipality of Madrid. Table 3.7. Profile of funds for cooperation and solidarity. Table 4.1. Post-conflict emergency assistance (1995-2005). Table 4.2. The geographic and thematic priorities areas of Rome and Madrid. Table 4.3. Municipality of Madrid. Grant by geographic areas. Table 5.1. Least Developed Countries. Table 5.2. Emergency assistance related to natural disasters (1995-2005). Table 5.3. Emergency projects subsidized by the Municipality of Madrid (1999-2002). Table 6.1. The prevailing strategy. 8 Introduction During the last decades the developing cooperation has proven to be one of the most relevant issues within the field of International Relations. Particular attention has been devoted to Decentralized Cooperation (DC) regarded as an interesting and original form of external assistance to the developing countries. This assistance usually consists of a direct funding from well established developed to undeveloped countries through non governmental organizations (NGOs), sub national authorities and supra-national official donors such as the European Commission, the UNDP, and the World Bank (Desmet, A. and Develtere, P., 2002, p. 5) . Today the vast majority of Eastern European countries, Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America are beneficed from donor agencies or rich countries. However, this cooperation is by no means restricted to central governments but other actors such as executing agencies and civil society (NGOs, universities, business community) may also play a major role in advocacy, awareness raising and the implementation of development cooperation objectives. Since the early 1980s sub national authorities such as regions, cities, districts, Länder , provinces and municipalities have had a leading attitude in this field (Desmet, A. and Develtere, P., 2002, p. 1). Historically, the first international association of local authorities was set up in 1913, principally for the purpose of general information exchange and mutual support, with a small number of direct city-to-city links. But it was in the aftermath of the Second World War via the “twining programs” that direct connections between local authorities of two or more countries really began to spread out. Most of the pioneer initiatives