City Governments as Political Actors of Global Governance

Abstract

The transnational rise of city networks is increasingly associated with the emergence of hybrid configurations beyond the public sector that contribute to technocratic decisionmaking processes and the depoliticization of global governance. This article takes issue with this argument. By analyzing the legitimation strategy used by the global city network United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) vis-à-vis the UN system, the article contends that city networks can generate collective agency and frame political issues as a matter of public accountability. The cities gathered under UCLG, a “public membership” city network, are offering their political constitution to the multilateral system, thus complementing rather than replacing the political agency of state-centric processes. Yet the state-centric nature of the international system is also the main obstacle on the (winding) road of UCLG toward multilateral recognition.