U.S. state commitments with foreign governments

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The U.S. federal government possesses extensive power to conduct foreign relations, but it is now common for U.S. states to interface directly with foreign sovereigns and their subnational jurisdic...

The U.S. federal government possesses extensive power to conduct foreign relations, but it is now common for U.S. states to interface directly with foreign sovereigns and their subnational jurisdictions, including by signing written commitments to cooperate on issues ranging from economic development to environmental protection. These commitments seem to carry real benefits for the participants in many cases. By all appearances, they enable states to address governance challenges in ways that would be unavailable without foreign cooperation. They avoid the gridlock and delay that often burdens federal lawmaking. And they help to establish states as participants in the shaping of global norms. At the same time, state commitments with foreign governments can carry material risks. This volume provides a curated compilation of the full text of roughly 600 commitments. The commitments are organized in alphabetical order by subject matter and, within each subject, in alphabetical order by U.S. state party. Our goal in selecting them was not to provide a representative sample of modern practice, but rather to highlight the diversity of that practice, in terms of both the issues on which states and foreign governments have recently cooperated and the ways in which they have done so. The topics range from archaeology to human rights and transportation.--Publisher.

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