Not so polycentric: The stratified structure & national drivers of transnational municipal networks

• Published in: Cities Vol. 143; p. 104597
• Main Authors: Leffel, Benjamin, Derudder, Ben, Acuto, Michele, van der Heijden, Jeroen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2023
• Subjects: Climate change; Democracy; Global cities; Global governance; Governance gaps; Inter-city networks; World city hierarchy; Governance gaps; Climate change; Global governance; Global cities; Democracy; Inter-city networks; World city hierarchy
• ISSN: 0264-2751; 1873-6084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2023.104597

As members of transnational municipal networks (TMNs), city governments increasingly create a landscape of global governance complementary to but largely independent of traditional, nation-state dominated organizations, from climate change governance to peacebuilding. But a growing number of cities now maintain multiple simultaneous memberships in different TMNs, affording a powerful minority of cities greater representation in world affairs, a skewed landscape that has to date received little attention. To examine the forces shaping this landscape of global governance, we analyze a detailed database of the TMN memberships of over 10,000 cities, observing memberships in both all TMNs collectively and specifically environmentally-focused TMNs. We find that this landscape mirrors the highly stratified core-periphery structure of cities in the world economy, where the most economically powerful cities maintain the most simultaneous memberships in TMNs of both sorts, affording them the greatest ability to set agendas and project ideas within global urban governance. In short, the same 4% of cities that connect the world economy together also have the most representation in global governance. This suggests a markedly more centralized landscape of global urban governance than much of the polycentricity literature expects. We also show how national attributes influence city participation. While democracy matters more for city memberships in all TMNs collectively, national action on global environmental governance matters more for city participation in environmental TMNs. Specifically, cities with more memberships in environmental TMNs tend to be in nations that ratify more international environmental treaties, indicating that participation serves a complementary role to national action. Cities with more memberships in all TMNs collectively tend to be in nations with higher civil liberties scores, indicating that cities from democratic regimes tend to be those most represented in this landscape. •A powerful minority of cities have the most representation in global governance through transnational municipal networks (TMNs).•This landscape mirrors the core-periphery structure of cities in the world economy.•City power in global governance is not as polycentric and equal as literature expects, but is highly centralized.•Underrepresentation and unequal distribution of TMN benefits may create challenges for bottom-up global governance systems.•Nations that are more democratic and ratify more environmental treaties house cities with more TMN memberships.