Hanseatic City-States as actors of Proto-Paradiplomacy: Cultural Integrators of Economics, Politics and Law

Stemming from the theory of paradiplomacy, the study investigates the topic of external contacts of quasi-states of the Hanseatic League as a special type of cultural and diplomatic activity. The relevance of this study is associated with the need for a more comprehensive description of the behavioral dynamics of such structures both today and in retrospect. The study attempts to identify the roots of the modern cultural phenomenon of paradiplomacy. To reach this goal it was necessary, firstly, to systematize modern theoretical approaches to paradiplomacy; secondly, to apply a theoretical framework to studying paradiplomacy on the example of the Hanseatic League; and thirdly, to find the correspondences and inconsistencies between this framework and the economic, political and legal practices of the Hanseatic League. The research materials are both theoretical works on paradiplomacy and historical documents concerning the activities of the Hanseatic League. It has been revealed that even though paradiplomacy is traditionally dated back to the globalization of the 1970s, some elements of paradiplomacy can be observed as early as in the Middle Ages. As a result of the study, it has been shown that external contacts of quasi-state formations of the Hanseatic League may be considered as prototypical paradiplomacy: the cities of the Hanseatic League were guided by the common Lübeck Law, which regulated, in particular, the external relations of the Hansa members and outlined the framework of proto-diplomatic cooperation; common economic interests pushed the Hanseatic cities to cooperate with the urban entities of Norway, England and Rus'. Based on the theory of the Canadian political scientist A. Lecourt, the authors conclude that all three levels of paradiplomatic activity were present in the Hansa. To substantiate the conclusion, it was proved that the first (economic) level is represented by actual economic interaction that underlay the existence of the Hanseatic League, as shown by the example of the connections between German cities and Novgorod. The second (cultural) level of paradiplomacy with cultural interaction as a strategy to increase the influence of city-states is represented by the so-called Hanseatic fairs. The third (political) level includes the provision by Lübeck of a fleet for the transport of the army of the Teutonic Order, land and sea military campaigns and the conclusion of the Stralsund Peace Treaty. The authors analyze the Hanseatic League office system in the context of the antennas theory of paradiplomatic interaction by J. Ciesielska-Kilkowska and T. Kamiński. At the same time, it demonstrates the limitations of the theoretical approaches used in relation to medieval city-states.