Outlooks for the legal framing of paradiplomacy: the case of Brazil

Abstract

The last decades have seen a deepening of paradiplomacy which is an especially important phenomenon for the federal states. This development became a source of change in the constitutions of federal states in order to trace prospects and limits for such process. Brazil is part of the group of states where non-central governments reaching beyond the national borders have occurred without a legal framework specific to the issue. In a federal state known for its centralization like Brazil such discussion can be harsh but its relevance to local and regional development and to the balance of the federative pact turns is necessary.