Bavaria's external relations

Importance. The current state of Bavaria’s foreign relations and their main problems are considered, and ways to solve them are proposed. A special emphasis is placed on the role of Bavaria in solving the federal tasks of Germany in the field of foreign policy, for this purpose the concept of auxillary paradiplomacy by Y.G. Akimov is used. The relevance of the study is dictated by the lack of work in the scientific field representing a relevant and modern analysis of the state of Bavaria’s foreign policy. The purpose of the research is to update the study of Bavaria’s foreign relations at the present time. The high level of institutional development, the complexity and interconnectedness of the implemented programs at the level of this federal state are emphasized.

Materials and Methods. The main materials are the official Ministries websites of Bavaria and representatives of the Land abroad, as well as reports of the EU commissions on interregional cooperation. To solve the tasks set, the institutional method is used in the context of considering the main actors of Bavaria’s foreign policy and their functions, as well as the “case-study” method for analyzing cooperation between Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

Results and Discussion. Using the example of the Strategy for the Development of Relations between Bavaria and the Czech Republic from 2019, the multifactorial nature of Bavaria’s external relations, as well as a well-thought-out institutional design of cooperation, are demonstrated.

Conclusion. The Bavarian model can be successfully implemented in other regions (including Russia) seeking greater global cooperation. This model is contrasted with the traditional model of development of external relations of subnational actors, focused mainly on trade; its advantages are emphasized.

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4. Akimov Yu.G. (2021). International activities of subnational actors and foreign policy of the Nation State: models of interaction and interpretations. Sravnitel’naya politika = Comparative Politics Russia, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 33-41. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24411/2221-3279-2021-10026, https://elibrary.ru/faqcwj

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