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41 Mich. J. Int'l L. 227 (2020)
The Urbanization of International Law and International Relations: The Rising Soft Power of Cities in Global Governance

handle is hein.journals/mjil41 and id is 239 raw text is: 





    THE URBANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL

    LAW AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

      THE RISING SOFT POWER OF CITIES IN
                   GLOBAL GOVERNANCE


                             Chrystie  Swiney *



                             I. INTRODUCTION

    In an  era of increased partisan gridlock among   nation-states, ongoing
democratic  deficits in the international policymaking process,  plummeting
levels of trust in national leaders, and the failure of federal governments to
solve our most  pressing global problems,' attention is shifting to a different
set of actors: cities. Cities are not only more attuned to the needs of their
electorate, more trusted than their national counterparts, more adept at get-
ting things done, and  less partisan when it comes  to working  across aisles
and oceans,3 but they are also more  ambitious in pushing  forward  bold, hu-



        Chrystie Flournoy Swiney is an international lawyer, legal fellow for the
Georgetown Global Cities Initiative, legal scholar and advisor at the Sunwater Institute, and
PhD candidate in the Government Department at Georgetown University. She holds graduate
degrees from Harvard Law School (JD), Oxford University (MPhil), and Georgetown
(MA/PhD  (ABD)), and she is the lead author of Global Trends in NGO Law. Chrystie would
like to thank Professor Sheila Foster at the Georgetown Law Center and the McCourt School
of Public Policy for her guiding hand and inspirational mentorship, as well as for her collabo-
ration and ongoing partnership in research on global cities. Chrystie is also thankful for the
support of the Georgetown Global Cities Initiative and Professor Uwe Brandes. Learn more
about Chrystie, including her research and  publications, at http://chrystieswiney.
georgetown.domains.
    1.   See THOMAS HALE, DAVID  HELD, & KEVIN YOUNG,  GRIDLOCK: WHY  GLOBAL
COOPERATION IS FAILING WHEN WE NEED IT MOST (2013) (arguing that our tools for global
policymaking, primarily state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions,
have broken down); Dan Koon-Hong Chan, City Diplomacy and Glocal Governance: Revi-
talizing Cosmopolitan Democracy, 29 EURO. J. Soc. SC. RES. 134, 135 (2016) (discussing
how international policymaking suffers from democratic deficits).
   2.    Many pundits, scholars, and even former diplomats are starting to make this argu-
ment. See, e.g., GERALD FRUG, RiCHARD FORD, & DAVID BARRON, LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS  278 (6th ed. 2010); Nina Hachigian, Cities Will Determine the
Future of Diplomacy, FOREIGN POL'Y (Apr. 16, 2019), https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/16/
cities-will-determine-the-future-of-diplomacy; Chrystie Swiney & Sheila Foster, Cities are
Rising in Influence and Power  on  the Global Stage, CrrvLAB  (Apr. 15, 2019),
https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2019/04/city-leadership-international-policy-mayors-
u20-uclg-c40/587089; Robert Muggah et al., Cities, Not Nation States, Will Determine Our
Future Survival. Here's Why, WORLD ECON. F. (June 2, 2017), https://www.weforum.org/
agenda/2017/06/as-nation-states-falter-cities-are-stepping-up.
    3.   Richard Florida, Are Local Politics as Polarized as National? Depends on the Is-
sue, CITYLAB  (Apr. 24, 2019)  https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/04/polarization-cities-


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