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Reconstructing Citizenship, the Re-scaling of the State and the New Authoritarianism: Closing the Belgian Mines

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  • Erik Swyngedouw

    (School of Geography, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK, Erik.Swyngedouw@GEOG.OX.AC.UK)

Abstract

The paper explores the contested re-configuration of the position of the national state as a result of the reworking of the scales of governance. It is argued that the intricate relationship between recent changes in the 'scaling' of the national state and the formation of new and differently 'scaled' institutional forms takes place in and through processes of urban/regional restructuring as part of an effort to 'produce' globally competitive spaces. The rise of 'glocal' forms of governance is paralleled by the formation of new elite coalitions on the one hand and the systematic exclusion or further disempowerment of politically and/or economically already weaker social groups on the other. Such exclusive homogenisation of regional spaces erodes diversity and difference in highly oppressive ways. The glocal 'entrepreneurial' or 'Schumpeterian workfare' state becomes an 'authoritarian' state. This new 'post-Fordist (?)' form of governance is unstable and re-enforces fragmentation and tension in civil society. This, in turn, not only jeopardises the potential success of the restructuring drive, but undermines social cohesion in an already fractured and fragmented regional social fabric. This thesis will be explored and documented through the analysis of the political economy of urban-regional socio-economic restructuring that paralleled the recent closure of Belgium's five remaining coal pits in the north-eastern Province of Limburg.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Swyngedouw, 1996. "Reconstructing Citizenship, the Re-scaling of the State and the New Authoritarianism: Closing the Belgian Mines," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(8), pages 1499-1521, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:33:y:1996:i:8:p:1499-1521
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098966772
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Frank Moulaert & Erik Swyngedouw & Patricia Wilson, 1988. "Spatial Responses To Fordist And Post‐Fordist Accumulation And Regulation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 11-23, January.
    2. Van Den Panhuyzen, W., 1989. "De financiële historiek van de Kempense steenkolenmijnen," Economic and Social Journal (Economisch en Sociaal Tijdschrift), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 83-94, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kevin Fox Gotham, 2014. "Racialization and Rescaling: Post-Katrina Rebuilding and the Louisiana Road Home Program," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 773-790, May.
    2. Virginie Mamadouh & Olivier Kramsch & Martin Van Der Velde, 2004. "Articulating Local And Global Scales," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(5), pages 455-466, December.
    3. Navé Wald & Douglas Hill, 2016. "‘Rescaling’ alternative food systems: from food security to food sovereignty," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 203-213, March.
    4. John Harrison, 2008. "Stating the Production of Scales: Centrally Orchestrated Regionalism, Regionally Orchestrated Centralism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 922-941, December.
    5. Richard Grant & Jan Nijman, 2004. "The Re‐Scaling Of Uneven Development In Ghana And India," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(5), pages 467-481, December.

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