@article{Höpel_2007, title={Zwischen nationaler Außenpolitik und interurbaner Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit:: Die Städtepartnerschaft zwischen Leipzig und Lyon in der zweiten Hälfte des 20 Jahrhundert}, volume={17}, url={https://www.comparativ.net/v2/article/view/133}, DOI={10.26014/j.comp.2007.04.07}, abstractNote={<p>The article deals with the function and forms of municipal policy in the field of international relations and compares cities in France and in the German Democratic Republic. In examining the partnership between Leipzig and Lyon the article asks for motivations of such a relationship, for its position within the whole municipal policy and compares the scope both cities had in running such a partnership. In spite of central guidelines given by the governments, the cities pursued their own objectives when developing such relations to cities abroad. That is, to a certain degree, also valid for Eastern Germany where the leading Communist Party used such partnerships firmly as a means of its foreign policy and impeded own municipal initiatives. The partnership between Leipzig and Lyon resumed, however, contacts existing already before 1933 and continued to exist also after the end of the German Democratic Republic. After 199, it was even resuscitated being a useful instrument for Leipzig to intensify intermunicipal cooperation and transnational exchange on central issues of the city’s development during a period of fundamental transition.</p>}, number={4}, journal={Comparativ}, author={Höpel, Thomas}, year={2007}, month={Oct.}, pages={117–136} }