Rescaling the State: Topical Issues
Topical Issues
Articles might span an array of topical issues, including the following.
• Debates about the diminishing/rising importance of the state at and across scales, from local through global: Reappraising debates about the ascendance of a supranational or global order, the presumed decline of the nation state, the growth of subnational forms of governance, and the articulation of state processes across scales, such as glocalization. Questioning “rescaling itself” - its meaning, significance, link to neoliberalism/ welfare state restructuring, and supporting empirical evidence.
• State policy and rescaling: Recasting the study of state policy in various sectors, such as social welfare, economic development, health, education, environmental/climate change/land use, etc. in light of the changing scalar reach of the state. Appraising the contradictions and problems brought about by rescaling. Evaluating how changes in state policy arenas emanating from rescaling processes affect places and populations. Impacts on the elderly, children, women, poor, and other particular population sub-groups might also be addressed.
• Emerging forms of governance: Analyzing decentralization and re-centralization processes as they are manifest via different state institutions and actors (forms of government, regulatory bodies, public-private partnerships, non-governmental organizations) at various spatial scales. Are traditional forms of governance being replaced and with what consequences?
• Appraising the degree to which changes in the state are producing new scales of sociopolitical activity: Is the central state abdicating its role in redistribution, creating new, territorial modes of redistribution and social experiments? In the U.S. case, for example, to what degree are subnational governments now more progressive than the central state, as evidenced in living-wage ordinances, universal health care, protection of undocumented people etc.
• State-rescaling and social well-being: How do state-rescaling processes affect poverty and prosperity across places and populations? To what degree does decentralized/centralized government have different costs and benefits for populations and places?