In the past fifty years the American states have become influential actors on the world stage. As Governors have gained more power, and as state legislatures and state administrations have become increasingly professionalized, states have not only asserted themselves vis-a-vis the federal government, they have also become more active in world politics. My proposed project will document and analyze the motivations, methods, and spheres of states’ international activity. It will seek to answer the question of whether the states cooperate or compete with the federal government in the area of foreign policy. Moreover, my study will explore the possibilities for, and constraints upon, quasi-diplomatic relations between the American states and foreign national governments.
