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State, Strategy, and Scale in the Competitive City: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of the Governance of ‘Global Sydney’

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  • Pauline M McGuirk

    (Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia)

Abstract

In this paper I argue that a neo-Gramscian strategic relational approach (SRA) offers the relational and constructivist perspectives necessary to enhance our concrete and theoretical understandings of urban governance. Moreover, I argue for the utility of using discourse as a productive entry point for neo-Gramscian analysis. Taking a discursive approach to a case study of the governance of ‘global Sydney’ since the mid-1990s, I explore how engaging a neo-Gramscian SRA can connect theoretically informed explanation of the practical accomplishment of urban governance to its broader politico-economic embeddedness and to the territoriality of the state. I explore how the activation of Sydney's governance via the hegemonic project of producing the ‘competitive city’ is shaping a contingent and scaled state form—with a specific (and scaled) institutional form, regime of representation, and range of interventions. Additionally, I consider how counterhegemonic claims and currents shape this process. The relational and constructivist perspectives of the neo-Gramscian SRA ensure that, at all times, urban governance is understood both as a multiscalar production and as a political construction. The result of neo-Gramscian analysis, then, is more theoretically informed and theoretically informative studies of the situated practice of urban governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Pauline M McGuirk, 2004. "State, Strategy, and Scale in the Competitive City: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of the Governance of ‘Global Sydney’," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(6), pages 1019-1043, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:36:y:2004:i:6:p:1019-1043
    DOI: 10.1068/a36131
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Glen Searle & Michael Bounds, 1999. "State powers, state land and competition for global entertainment: the case of Sydney," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 165-172, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Delphine Ancien, 2011. "Global City Theory and the New Urban Politics Twenty Years On," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(12), pages 2473-2493, September.
    2. Pauline McGuirk & Robyn Dowling, 2011. "Governing Social Reproduction in Masterplanned Estates," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(12), pages 2611-2628, September.
    3. Harriet Bulkeley & Pauline M McGuirk & Robyn Dowling, 2016. "Making a smart city for the smart grid? The urban material politics of actualising smart electricity networks," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(9), pages 1709-1726, September.

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