Tantangan Paradiplomasi Kota Bandung dalam Implementasi Kerja Sama Sister City dengan Kota Fort Worth dan Kota Kawasaki

This study examines the challenges of the City of Bandung’s paradiplomacy in the implementation of sister city cooperation with Fort Worth and Kawasaki. Paradiplomacy refers to the involvement of local governments in international relations, which has developed alongside the implementation of decentralization and regional autonomy in Indonesia. One of the most common forms of paradiplomacy is sister city cooperation. The City of Bandung is one of the local governments actively engaged in international cooperation, including partnerships with Fort Worth (United States) and Kawasaki (Japan), however their implementation has encountered several challenges. This study aims to describe the implementation of the sister city cooperation between the City of Bandung and Fort Worth and Kawasaki, and to explain why the cooperation with these two partner cities faces challenges in practice. This research employs a qualitative explanatory method through interviews and documentation studies. The analysis is conducted using Alexander Kuznetsov’s theory of paradiplomacy, focusing on the constitutional and institutional dimensions. The findings indicate that in the constitutional dimension, bureaucratic procedures and licensing mechanisms involving the central government hinder the implementation of cooperation with Kawasaki. Meanwhile, in the institutional dimension, limited local government funding constitutes the main obstacle to maintaining the sustainability of cooperation with Fort Worth during the 2021–2024 period.