Abstract:
At present, sub-national actors enjoy varied degrees of acceptance within the various
frameworks for international trade interactions of their home states. This is mainly due
to the reality that there is a growing intersection between sub-national, national and
international policy arenas, making the policy space increasingly difficult to neatly
delineate. More so, with international norms still opposed to the participation of subnational
actors in the international scene, most of the actions taken by these actors are
classified as 'wholly domestic policies', which their central governments are mandated
to ensure are in conformity with international obligations. This has made the mapping
and understanding of sub-national foreign engagement difficult to coherently
conceptualise. Focusing on Belgium and Canada, this paper seeks to ascertain:
whether there are any coherent themes deducible in the way we conceptualise
emerging patterns of engagement by sub-national actors in international trade
relations.
