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Town Twinning in Cold-War Britain: (Dis)continuities in Twentieth-Century Municipal Internationalism

2010; Routledge; Volume: 24; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13619461003768272

1743-7997

Nick Clarke,

Political Systems and Governance

Abstract This paper draws on correspondence and other material in the National Archives at Kew, London, to provide an historical narrative of town twinning in Cold-War Britain. In doing so, it supplements a literature on town twinning that has little to say about international municipal partnerships involving British localities. It also supplements a literature on municipal internationalism that tends to focus on either municipal connections around the turn of the twentieth century or the perceived 'new localism' of the last few decades. The argument developed is that twentieth-century municipal internationalism was shaped in Britain by continuities of desire and interest at the local level and discontinuities of opportunity at the national and international levels. Various models of town twinning became available to British localities after the Second World War. During the Cold War, the British Government intervened in the availability of some of these models, not least because of fears about Communist penetration through town twinning. By the late 1970s, such intervention had ensured that town twinning in Britain was associated with civic and cultural exchanges within Western Europe. Keywords: Town TwinningSister CitiesMunicipal InternationalismLocal GovernmentCold War Acknowledgements This paper draws on research funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Data were provided by the Local Government Association. Thanks are due to these organisations, Julian Greaves (an editor for Contemporary British History), the three anonymous referees who provided many helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper, the individuals who agreed to be interviewed about town twinning, and the following organisations: the IULA, the Council of European Municipalities, the AMC, the British Council, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Towns and Development, the UK One World Linking Association, Oxfam, the Local Government International Bureau, the UN Development Programme, World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination, the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and the Local Government Association. Responsibility for all content of the paper lies entirely with the author. Notes [1] There are town-twinning relationships that claim to predate 1945. The existence and age of these relationships is not in dispute. Town twinning as an organised phenomenon, however, using the name 'town twinning' (or equivalents in languages other than English), emerged during the period following the Second World War. [2] For a collection of research on municipal internationalism during this period, see Contemporary European History 11, no. 4. [3] Ewen and Hebbert, 'European Cities in a Networked World during the Long 20th Century'. [4] Dogliani, 'European Municipalism in the First Half of the Twentieth Century'. [5] Saunier, 'Sketches from the Urban Internationale, 1910–50'; 'Taking Up the Bet on Connections'. [6] Saunier, 'Taking Up the Bet on Connections'. [7] Saunier, 'Sketches from the Urban Internationale'; 'Taking Up the Bet'. [8] For collections of research using the internationalisation or globalisation approach, see Fry et al. The New International Cities Era and; Environment and Planning C 25, no. 3. [9] Fry et al. The New International Cities Era. [10] Urban entrepreneurialism describes the competitive pursuit by cities of trading partners, markets and inward investment – see John, Local Governance in Western Europe. [11] Hocking, Localising Foreign Policy. [12] The Europeanisation or internationalisation of local government describes a response to funding and career opportunities originating in Brussels that includes interurban lobbying networks – see Goldsmith, 'The Europeanisation of Local Government'; Church and Reid, 'Local Democracy, Cross-Border Collaboration and the Internationalisation of Local Government'. [13] Swyngedouw, 'The Heart of Place'. [14] Ibid. [15] Swyngedouw, 'Neither Global nor Local'. [16] Brenner, New State Spaces. [17] For a collection of research on city-to-city cooperation, see Habitat International 33, no. 2. [18] Bontenbal and Lindert, 'Transnational City-to-City Cooperation'; Nitschke et al. 'Challenges of German City2City Cooperation and the Way Forward to a Quality Debate'. [19] Bontenbal and Lindert, 'Transnational City-to-City Cooperation'; Evans, 'A Framework for Development?'. [20] Swyngedouw, 'Neither Global nor Local'. [21] Ewen and Hebbert, 'European Cities in a Networked World during the Long 20th Century'. [22] Campbell, 'The Ideals and Origins of the Franco-German Sister Cities Movement, 1945–70'. [23] Vion, 'Europe from the Bottom Up'. [24] Ibid. [25] Vion, 'Europe from the Bottom Up'; Weyreter, 'Germany and the Town Twinning Movement'; Vion, 'The Institutionalisation of International Friendship'. [26] Zelinsky, 'The Twinning of the World'. [27] Campbell, 'The Ideals and Origins of the Franco-German Sister Cities Movement, 1945–70'. [28] The Local Government Association maintains a database of town-twinning relationships involving British localities. The author was given access to this database in June 2007. [29] Interviews were completed with representatives of the following national and international organisations: the IULA, the Council of European Municipalities, the Association of Municipal Corporations, the British Council, the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Towns and Development, the United Kingdom One World Linking Association, Oxfam, the Local Government International Bureau, the United Nations Development Programme, World Association of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination, the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and the Local Government Association. They were also completed with local authority members and officers and town-twinning association officers and members in 12 British localities. [30] Goldsmith, 'The Europeanisation of Local Government'. [31] For an extended discussion of this point, see Clarke, 'In What Sense "Spaces of Neoliberalism"?'. [32] Ewen and Hebbert, 'European Cities in a Networked World during the Long 20th Century'. [33] Campbell, 'The Ideals and Origins of the Franco-German Sister Cities Movement, 1945–70'. [34] Ibid. [35] Vion, 'Europe from the Bottom Up'. [36] Ibid. [37] United Towns Organisation, A Short Guide to Town Twinning, 1965, file OD10/159, National Archives, Kew London (hereafter NA). [38] Ibid. [39] Memorandum on Town to Town Links prepared by the British Council at the request of the Foreign Office, dated 19 March 1949, NA, HLG52/1632. [40] Letter from J. P. G. Finch of the Foreign Office to N. B. Parkinson of the British Council, dated 26 April 1949, NA, HLG52/1632. [41] Details of this letter and events surrounding it were reported in a speech by Harold Banwell, Secretary of the Association of Municipal Corporations, given on 24 October 1961 to a conference organised by the British Section of the Council of European Municipalities and the UK Council of the European Movement, NA, HLG52/1632. [42] Foreign Office INTEL no. 117, dated 7 September 1961, NA, FCO13/185. [43] Foreign Office INTEL no. 153, dated 11 September 1962, NA, FCO13/185. [44] ECOSOC Resolution 1028 (XXXVII): 'Town Twinning as a Means of International Cooperation', adopted 13 August 1964, NA, OD10/159. [45] Letter from J.-M. Bressand of the United Towns Organisation to D. Smith of the UK Executive Committee, International Cooperation Year 1965, dated 3 May 1965, NA, OD10/159. [46] Letter from J. P. Gaukroger of International Cooperation Year 1965 to H. Nield of the Ministry of Overseas Development, dated 12 October 1965, NA, OD10/159. [47] Briefing paper on the United Towns Organisation, prepared by the Cultural Exchange Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, dated April 1972, NA, FCO34/156. [48] United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2058 (XX): 'Town Twinning as a Means of International Cooperation', adopted 16 December 1965, NA, OD11/282. [49] Letter from J.-M. Bressand of the United Towns Organisation to Lord Caradon, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Permanent British Representative to the United Nations, dated 10 March 1967, NA, FCO13/183. [50] Statement from the United Towns Organisation, Annex 1 of a note from the Secretary General of the United Nations, agenda of the 42nd Session of ECOSOC, 16 March 1967, NA, FCO13/185. [51] Statement from the International Union of Local Authorities, Annex 2 of a note from the Secretary General of the United Nations, agenda of the 42nd Session of ECOSOC, 16 March 1967, NA, FCO13/185. [52] Briefing note on the agenda of the 42nd Session of ECOSOC, prepared by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, dated 3 May 1967, NA, FCO13/185. [53] ECOSOC Resolution 1217 (XLII): 'Town Twinning as a Means of International Cooperation', adopted 8 June 1967, NA, FCO13/183. [54] Letter from J.-M. Bressand of the United Towns Organisation to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, dated 17 January 1968, NA, FCO/183. [55] See Bongers, City-to-City Cooperation, and Ringrose, The Challenges of Linking. [56] Letter from C. C. B. Stewart, State Secretary to the Foreign Office, to J. C. Swaffield of the Association of Municipal Corporations, dated 5 April 1968, NA, FCO13/184. [57] Briefing paper on the United Towns Organisation, prepared by the Cultural Exchange Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, dated April 1972, NA, FCO34/156. [58] See [Online] http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/guide_en.html (Accessed 10 October 2007). [59] Harvey, 'From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism'; Cochrane, Whatever Happened to Local Government; Hall and Hubbard, The Entrepreneurial City. [60] Local Government Association Database of Twinning Towns. [61] The International Union of Local Authorities was founded in 1913 as the Union Internationale des Villes. In 2004, it merged with a number of organisations to form United Cities and Local Governments. Additional informationNotes on contributorsNick Clarke Nick Clarke is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Southampton. His research concerns the cultural dimensions of globalisation. Among other topics, he has published on identity and community among British citizens resident in Australia and ethical consumption as it relates to moral philosophy and political theory. He is currently researching a history and geography of town twinning in Britain since 1945.