“Para-diplomacy in the face of legal ambiguities and natural disasters”

• In Event: Para-diplomacy

Abstract

The passing of Hurricane Irma and Maria ensued the rise of diplomatic relations between governments who are, at least one of them (Puerto Rico), non-sovereign. Most of the islands are Sub-National Island Jurisdictions or SNIJs. They are territories belonging to either United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, or United States. Their territorial status could legally preclude them from establishing formal international relations among them. However, the chaos caused by Hurricane Irma showed that SNIJs do engage in what can be called as “Disaster Para-diplomacy”. Here, para-diplomacy is defined as the international actions and policies taken by non-sovereign territories. However, this begs several questions. Given the close proximity between these Caribbean Islands, should we assume that joint actions in situations of disasters are common place? If they are, why and when do they decide to establish such cooperation instead of relying on their mainland government? To answer these questions, I have been interviewing key governmental personnel and civil society leaders and collected news reports from several Islands. The preliminary results have shown a variation in the paradiplomatic activity that cannot be fully explained by structural factors, but by characteristics of the individual leaders of each local government. It also shows differences in the institutionalization of these relations.

Author

• Mayra Vélez Serrano, University of Puerto Rico