Renaissance of the City as Global Actor The role of foreign policy and international law practices in the construction of cities as global actors

This chapter examines the city as a global actor. It considers globalization, urbanization, and decentralization in their impact on the position of the city. Subsequently, the focus is on how cities are (re)constituted as global actors by making use of the language, norms, and practices of foreign policy and international law, while, as global actors, cities in turn reconstitute global society and its normative structure. The current urban renaissance challenges traditional state-centrism of the international relations/international law theories describing the world. The chapter suggests that we do indeed face “a moment of foreign policy transformation,” as the renaissance of the city as an independent global actor attests to a more general shift from an international to a global society. Meanwhile, the (re)constitution of the city as new foreign policy actor shows the persuasive power and constructive role of international legal norms and ideas.