Between Realism and Revolt : Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism

Between Realism and Revolt explores urban governance in the “age of austerity”, focusing on the period between the global financial crisis of 2008-9 and the beginning of the global Coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2019. It considers urban governance after the 2008 crisis, from the perspective of governability. How did cities navigate the crisis and the aftermath of austerity, with what political ordering and disordering dynamics at the forefront? To answer these questions it engages with two influential theoretical currents, Urban Regime Theory and Gramscian state theory, with a view to understanding how governance enabled austerity, deflected or intensified localised expressions of crisis, and generated more-or-less successful political alternatives. It develops a comparative analysis of case studies undertaken in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Greater Dandenong (Melbourne), Leicester, Montreal and Nantes, and concludes by highlighting five characteristics that cut across the cities, unevenly and in different configurations: economic rationalism, weak hegemony, retreat to dominance, weak counter-hegemony and radically contagious politicisations. Front Cover Between Realism and Revolt: Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism Copyright information Dedication Table of contents List of Tables Contributing Investigators Acknowledgments Preface Introduction Problematising urban austerity governance Eight cities as case studies Issues in comparative urban studies Data and analysis Further methodological considerations Structure 1 Studying Urban Political (Dis)Orders Introduction Studying urban political (dis)orders: between pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will? The case for strategic pessimism The duality of ‘power’ and ‘resistance’ Sources of socialist agency Gramscian regime analysis Crises, neoliberalism and austerity Crisis, interregnum and conjuncture Conjunctural analysis Neoliberalism Austerity Conclusion 2 Dynamics of Crisis, Neoliberalisation and Austerity Introduction Eight cities in and beyond the global economic crisis The Eurozone recessions Recession beyond the Eurozone Australia: the exception Radicalising neoliberalism through austerity Neoliberalisation without ‘austerity’? Austerity? Not here! Conclusion 3 Austerity and State Rescaling Introduction The financial and juridical squeeze on local government Austerity and functional jurisdiction Austerity and territorial jurisdiction Conclusion 4 Consolidating Neoliberal Austerity Regimes Introduction Athens: an emerging multi-scalar elite pluralist regime1 Baltimore: a racialised elite pluralist development regime Dublin: a revanchist national austerity regime Leicester: a nationally mandated austerian realist regime Conclusion 5 Regime Divergence and the Limits of Austere Neoliberalism Introduction Montréal: a development regime interregnum? Nantes: a corroding sustainable development regime? Greater Dandenong: a state-led intercultural revitalisation regime Barcelona: a new municipalist challenge to austere neoliberalism Conclusion 6 Resisting Austerity: Resonant Solidarities and Small Wins Introduction Strategic internationalism The feminisation of urban politics Re-constituting rebellious civil society New urban activisms: collaborative governance at the grassroots Rescaling and redefining the city Intersectoral solidarities: students, workers, communities and voluntary groups Uploading: policy pressure on upper tiers 7 The ‘Activity of Ruling Groups’: Containment, De-mobilisation and Fragmentation Introduction Containing and deflecting resistance Scalecraft and spatial containment The chilling effects of late corporatism Community disorganising Limits of new municipalism Brexit and the new conservative hegemony? Conclusion 8 Reading the Conjuncture: (Dis)Ordering Dynamics in the Crises of Neoliberal Globalism Introduction Urban regime characteristics and governability Pervasive economic rationalism Weakening hegemony Whither the ‘collaborative moment’? Retreat to dominance Whither the entrepreneurial city? Contours of resistance: weak counter-hegemony Politicisations: combustibility, generativity and contagion Conclusion Afterword: Into the Pandemic Notes References Index Back Cover Leading governance theorist Jonathan S. Davies develops a rich comparative analysis of austerity governance and resistance in eight cities, to establish a conjunctural perspective on the rolling crises of neoliberal globalism. Drawing on a major international study of eight cities, Davies employs Gramscian regime analysis to consider the consolidation, weakening and transformation of urban governance regimes through the age of austerity. He explores how urban governance shapes variations in austere neoliberalism, tackling themes including collaboration, dominance, resistance and counter-hegemony. The book is a significant addition to thinking about how the era of austerity politics influences urban governance today, and the potential for alternative urban futures. Jonathan S. Davies. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 219-243) And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web.