Mikhailenko E.B.

The article is devoted to the study of the definitions of paradiplomacy formulated by both Russian and foreign scientists as the activity of sub-state actors (including the regions of federal states and municipalities) in the world arena through the international contacts and foreign economic relations. The purpose of the study is to determine the paradiplomacy by formulating the signs of this phenomenon as a result of analysis of the definitions of the paradiplomacy of Russian and foreign scientists. Methods. The work is based on the use of the method of expert assessments to study the concept of paradiplomacy, it’s essential characteristics and the features of actors involved in the implementation of paradiplomacy. System-structural analysis was also used to identify signs of paradiplomacy as a holistic phenomenon. The results of the research consist in defining the signs of paradiplomacy (including the actors participating in its implementation and the content of the paradiplomacy – international contacts and foreign economic relations of the regions of the federal state and municipalities). The results of the research can be applied within the science of international relations (for studying the features of participation of sub-state actors in world politics). The scientific novelty of the work are that despite a large number of studies of paradiplomacy, a unified approach to the definition of this phenomenon was not formed. Paradiplomacy in Russia is insufficiently studied by Russian scientists, since the paraplomacy is not delimited from related phenomena (primarily from such unlawful ones as separatism).