EUROPE-ASIA STUDIES, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2003, 613–629 Paradiplomacy in the Russian Regions: Tatarstan’s Search for Statehood GULNAZ SHARAFUTDINOVA THE EMERGENCE OF RUSSIAN REGIONS as new actors on the international scene reflects both the worldwide processes of globalisation and regionalisation within the Russian Federation. Thirty-five regions in Russia have direct borders with foreign countries; 1 regional governments, willingly or not, have had to confront this reality and deal with trans-border issues. Trans-border cooperation in the Barents Sea has linked the Northwestern regions of Russia with Finland and Sweden. 2 The regions of Russia’s South, near the Caspian Sea, have been drawn into the global geopolitics as transit territories for Caspian oil. 3 The regions in Russia’s Far East faced challenges of cooperation with China, Japan and Korea. 4 Furthermore, some of the regional governors in Russia’s hinterland outlined ‘miniature’ foreign policies that in some cases even contradicted the federal policy. 5 While completely novel to the Russian Federation, the phenomenon of international activities of governments on the sub-national level is not unique. Although not restricted to any single type of political system, it is especially relevant to federal states characterised by a vertical division of power among the central and regional levels of governance. Such activities have also been notable within the European Union, where inter-regional representation and cooperation are promoted through specific policies. Studies of regional paradiplomacy have proliferated in recent years, both in regard to the Russian Federation and other states. 6 Most studies of international activities on a sub-national level have been framed within the neoliberal paradigm following the traditions of the complex interdependence approach set by Keohane & Nye. 7 This article proposes a constructivist approach as an alternative framework that allows the political significance of regional paradiplomacy to be captured. A case study of the international activities of the Republic of Tatarstan uncovers the ways in which such activities reflect the process of regional identity formation. In particular, it is argued that in the case of Tatarstan paradiplomacy represents an incorporation of the elements of statehood into the republic’s identity. Through its international activities Tatarstan has been ‘acting like a state’ in order to be recognised by international actors. Therefore, paradiplomacy in this case has taken on an important symbolic meaning by embodying the behaviour of a sovereign state. ISSN 0966-8136 print; ISSN 1465-3427 online/03/040613-17  2003 University of Glasgow DOI: 10.1080/0966813032000084028