New State Spaces

This book develops a new interpretation of the transformation of statehood under contemporary globalizing capitalism. Whereas most analysts of the emergent, post-Westphalian world order have focused on supranational and national institutional realignments, this book shows that strategic subnational spaces, such as cities and city-regions, represent essential arenas in which states are being transformed. The book traces the transformation of urban governance in western Europe during the last four decades and, on this basis, argues that inherited geographies of state power are being fundamentally rescaled. Through a combination of theory construction, historical analysis and cross-national case studies of urban policy change, this book provides an analysis of the new formations of state power that are currently emerging.