Intergovernmental relations and international urban strategies: constraints and opportunities in multilevel polities

The authors analyse the influence of intergovernmental relations on international urban strategies. They build on the general premise that institutional settings shape actor behaviour, both as constraints and as opportunities. First, they focus on the influence of domestic intergovernmental patterns on the international activities of cities. It is found that the political status of city governments with respect to higher government levels, the strength of regional governments within a national intergovernmental system, and city-regional dynamics, are all factors that shape international urban strategies—in terms both of their orientation and of their coherence. Second, concerning the relationship between international urban strategies and intergovernmental processes linked to European integration, it is found that both ‘download’ and ‘upload’ Europeanisation create a pattern of institutional constraints and opportunities that push cities—especially secondary cities—towards active participation in European networks and the development of a clear international profile.