Paradiplomacy in the cross-border region of Brazil and Uruguay: Between legal vacuum and regulatory discrepancy

The aim of this article is to explore potentialities and limits of paradiplomacy in the cross- border region of Brazil and Uruguay (CBRBU) vis-à-vis the relation between twin towns and systemic actors. The application of theontology of the interaction-level microstructural theory by Alexander Wendt (1999) allows one to identify that the vacuum created by the lack of regulations concerning cross-border issues and the differences between Brazilian and Uruguayan regulatory frameworks have hindered the advance of paradiplomacy in the region. Informality is also recognized as a crucial, local tool for dealing with the obliteration of systemic actors regarding the CBRBU