MULTILEVEL POLITICS OF MEMORY: THE LOCAL DIMENSION OF SOUTH KOREAN POLITICS OF MEMORY TOWARDS JAPAN
Date:
01 February 2023 – currently
Principal Investigator:
Natalia Matiaszczyk, MA.
Funded under:
The National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2023/49/N/HS5/00934)
Description:
The research is focused on cities in South Korea, while the scope of their politics of memory is narrowed down to their relations with Japan. Many unresolved issues from the past continue to hinder South Korean-Japan relations.
The project's main objective is to comprehensively analyse a highly under-researched area that combines city diplomacy and politics of memory in South Korea. The second goal is to conceptualise the multilevel politics of memory.
The research is conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. On the one hand, there is literature analysis, normative acts analysis, field research, and qualitative content analysis at memorial sites. On the other, a survey of all South Korean cities. Based on the results, cities will be selected for in-depth case study analysis. Moreover, a vital element of the study is expert interviews and interviews with politicians and officials from selected cities and representatives of memorial sites.
THE ROLE OF REGIONS AND CITIES IN TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS
Date:
06 September 2023 – currently
Principal Investigator:
Tomasz Kamiński
Research team:
Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska, Marcin Frenkel, Michał Gzik
Funded under:
The National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2022/47/B/HS5/00772)
Description:
In our research, we look for answers regarding the characteristics of cooperation between European cities and regions with their American counterparts. We compare responses with our earlier research on subnational relations with China, allowing us to identify parallels and disparities in Europe's subnational relations with two major foreign partners.
The project implementation is divided into three phases. In the first phase, we survey all cities in the European Union (with over 50,000 inhabitants) and regions (at the NUTS2 level). Then, we map the subnational relations with American partners based on the data obtained. In the second stage, we conduct surveys in the US cities identified in phase one as cooperating with European subnational units. Then, we perform case study analyses. In the third stage, qualitative research uses direct interviews with officials responsible for transatlantic relations in Washington and Brussels.
DETERMINANTS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN GERMAN CITIES AND REGIONS WITH THE AMERICAN PARTNERS
Date:
01 June 2022 – currently
Principal Investigator:
Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska
Research team:
Tomasz Kamiński, Marcin Frenkel
Funded under:
University Scientific Development Fund, Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz
Description:
Cooperation between European cities and their partners, both within and outside Europe, is highly developed. An example is the collaboration between German and American municipalities, which has been ongoing since the 1950s. More than 170 partnerships exist between cities and regions, but knowledge about their activities, fields of action, successes, and failures is very limited.
The project examines the scale and nature of cooperation between German cities and regions and US cities and states. The project envisions conducting an extensive survey of 126 German cities and 16 states, identifying a group with solid relationships with partners on the other side of the Atlantic. The survey results are confronted with information obtained during interviews in selected offices and institutions, enabling the creation of a "map" of sister cities and a matrix of the conditions that facilitate or impede their cooperation.
MODEL OF COOPERATION BETWEEN CITIES AND REGIONS OF CEE AND CHINA
Date:
15 February 2021 – currently
Principal Investigator:
Michał Gzik
Funded under:
The National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2021/41/N/HS5/01963)
Description:
Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European states is intense, especially among the 16+1 initiative. However, the question remains whether the potential of such bilateral relations is appropriately used by city and regional authorities. Thus, the project aims to examine the scale of cooperation between cities and regions in Central and Eastern Europe with Chinese partners.
Through the implementation of the project, I want to find answers to the following questions: which cities and regions in CEE cooperate and which do not cooperate with China? What factors determine the success of subnational cooperation between CEE and China? What is the scope of policy coordination towards China at the subnational level in CEE?
The research is divided into three stages. First, a map of connections between cities and regions in China was created based on a survey. The next part of the research project involves a case study on six selected cities and regions in CEE, where cooperation with China is intense. Interviews are conducted with city/regional officials, local business representatives, and academia, as these are the actors most often involved in such relationships. The research's third and final stage defines the cooperation model between sub-state entities in CEE and China. As a result, a complete picture of China's multilevel cooperation with the CEE region will be obtained.
NEW THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES FOR EXAMINING CITY DIPLOMACY
Date:
April 2021 – currently
Principal Investigator:
Michał Gzik
Funded under:
Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz
Description:
The main aim of this research project is to describe and better understand the concept of city diplomacy as a new form of diplomacy by answering the following question: What theoretical perspectives and research techniques in urban studies do I apply in my research on the relations between CEE cities and regions with China?
I divided the work on the project into two stages. First, I link political science research on city diplomacy with research in urban studies, particularly in the context of cities' international activity. In the second stage, I want to learn research methods and techniques other than political science to study the phenomenon of city diplomacy.
Implementing this project through a 30-day research internship at the Melbourne Centre for Cities (University of Melbourne) will allow me to learn about the scientific approaches typical to the urban studies discipline. This discipline focuses on the foreign activity of cities and their internal conditions, which may drive or slow their international initiatives. It enables me to learn about research methods and techniques in urban studies other than political science.
THE ROLE OF THE CITIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION'S POLICY TOWARDS CHINA
Date:
28 February 2020 – 27 February 2023
Project Manager:
Tomasz Kamiński
Research team:
Joanna Ciesielska-Klikowska, Michał Gzik
Funded under:
The National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2019/33/B/HS5/01272)
Description:
The project aimed to examine the scale of cooperation between the cities of the European Union's (EU) Member States and those in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Given the economic partnership between the PRC and the European Union, Beijing authorities had seen a real need to increase the international role of cities in dialogue with Europe. However, the question remained: did a similar approach present itself to the authorities of EU Member States or Brussels officials?
The research sought answers to such issues, investigating the cooperation model between European and Chinese cities, the decisive factors for successful cooperation with the PRC, the role of institutionalisation in this process, the extent of coordination between national diplomacy and regional/European policy towards China, and the goals of European cities in their relations with Chinese counterparts.
It was conducted in three stages. The first one involved creating a survey sent to all cities of the European Union (with over 50,000 inhabitants). A map of cities actively cooperating with Chinese cities was developed based on the responses. In the second part, case studies were conducted in ten selected cities. In the third part, based on interviews with representatives of the European Commission and the European External Action Service, efforts were made to understand cities' roles in the EU's policy toward China.
The project contributed to a better understanding of the little-explored aspect of Euro-Chinese cooperation. Cities' activities were recognised as potentially significant political instruments, a consideration already factored into Chinese political planning and one that Europeans were encouraged to adopt.
Project's outcomes:
- Kamiński, T. and Ciesielska-Klikowska, J. (2023). ‘How to Use Paradiplomacy in EU Foreign Policymaking? Opportunities, Mechanisms, Limitations’ in The EU in a Globalized World (ed. Hoerber T., Bohas A., Valdemarin S.), Routledge, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003326083-10/use-paradiplomacy-eu-foreign-policymaking-opportunities-mechanisms-limitations-tomasz-kamiński-joanna-ciesielska-klikowska.
- Ciesielska-Klikowska, J. and Kamiński, T. (2022). ‘Paradiplomacy and its Impact on EU Foreign Policy’ in, Journal of Contemporary European Research 18 (1): 48-66. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v18i1.1223.
- Kamiński, T., Ciesielska-Klikowska, J., Gzik, M. (2024). Cities as Actors in the EU policy towards China. Journal of Common Market Studies, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13577
THE ROLE OF REGIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION POLICY TOWARDS CHINA
Date:
19 September 2016 – 19 September 2018
Principal Investigator:
Tomasz Kamiński
Funded under:
The National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2015/19/B/HS5/02534)
Description:
The project's primary goal had been to understand the role of paradiplomacy in the EU policy towards China in the context of international "actorness" of European regions, the political coherence of the EU external actions and policies, and multi-level governance in a globalised world. The project aimed to answer the following questions:
- What had been the intensity and scope of cooperation between European and Chinese regions?
- What were the impacts of subnational actors on the EU foreign policy? Were they really "actors" in European relations with China, and how effective had the "Europeanisation" of their interest been? Were regional activities necessary for the EU policy towards China?
- What factors had influenced the paradiplomatic activities of the European regions in China?
- What were European regions' goals in their relations with Chinese counterparts? To what extent did they want to influence the policies on the national and European levels?
In the quantitative part of the study, data was obtained through a survey among 142 European regional authorities from the six biggest countries (Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, and Poland). The qualitative part of the research was based on six case studies in regions selected based on a survey of the regions with the most intense relations with China. In each selected region, in-depth interviews were conducted with officials responsible for cooperation with China. In the last phase of the project, a few interviews with EU officials in Brussels were organised to understand better the role of region-to-region cooperation in the framework of EU-China relations.
Project's outcomes: