Images from a Neoliberal City: The State, Surveillance and Social Control (original) (raw)
Related papers
Images from a Neoliberal City: The State
2003
Smith (1996: 230-232) characterized the late twentieth century crusade for a "new urban frontier" as akin to the Wild West of nineteenth century America. In the last ten years, not only in the North American context but in Europe too, extending the boundaries of the urban frontier-economically, politically, and culturally-has galvanized powerful urban coalitions in the task of re-taking-both ideologically and materially-city spaces from the visible and symbolic elements of urban degeneration. The project of urban reclamation has not been neutral but has been formulated within a post welfare, neoliberal politics that has promoted a ideology of self responsibilisation within a climate of moral indifference to increasingly visible inequality. These ideological shifts have been fuelled by, and consolidated in, an evolving form of state ensemble that, as a rapidly moving target (Hay 1996: 3), has been largely neglected in criminological analysis. It is the contention of this paper that the agents and agencies of the neoliberal state are constructing the boundaries and possibilities of the new urban frontier while simultaneously engaging in a project of social control that will have far-reaching consequences for how we understand the meanings of public space, social justice and the parameters of state power.
Book Review: Neoliberal Urbanism and its Contestations: Crossing Theoretical Boundaries
Human Geography
In this edited collection, Jenny Künkel and Margit Meyer attempt the important but formidable task of grasping their subject through multiple strands of critical theory, incorporating not simply politicaleconomic with Foucauldian approaches, but also postoperaist, postcolonial, and post-structuralist feminist thought. The introduction wields Gramsci's theory of hegemony as the theoretical glue, arguing that more material accounts explain coercion through focus on external and structural forces, while post-structuralist approaches help us understand the day-today experience of consent: "The framework thus enhances our understanding of neoliberal hegemony by revealing how it is sustained not only through (external) force, but also by processes of identification and responsibilization (partially substituting Fordist-style concessions of material benefits or privilege according to the motto 'divide and rule')" (p. 6).
This essay elaborates a critical geographical perspective on neoliberalism that emphasizes (a) the path-dependent character of neoliberal reform projects and (b) the strategic role of cities in the contemporary remaking of political-economic space. We begin by presenting the methodological foundations for an approach to the geog-raphies of what we term " actually existing neoliberalism. " In contrast to neoliberal ideology, in which market forces are assumed to operate according to immutable laws no matter where they are " unleashed, " we emphasize the contextual embeddedness of neoliberal restructuring projects insofar as they have been produced within national, regional, and local contexts defined by the legacies of inherited institutional frameworks , policy regimes, regulatory practices, and political struggles. An adequate understanding of actually existing neoliberalism must therefore explore the path-dependent, contextually specific interactions between inherited regulatory landscapes and emergent neoliberal, market-oriented restructuring projects at a broad range of geographical scales. These considerations lead to a conceptualization of contemporary neolib-eralization processes as catalysts and expressions of an ongoing creative destruction of political-economic space at multiple geographical scales. While the neoliberal restructuring projects of the last two decades have not established a coherent basis for sustainable capitalist growth, it can be argued that they have nonetheless profoundly reworked the institutional infrastructures upon which Fordist-Keynesian capitalism was grounded. The concept of creative destruction is presented as a useful means for describing the geographically uneven, socially regressive, and politically volatile trajectories of institutional/spatial change that have been crystallizing under these conditions. The essay concludes by discussing the role of urban spaces within the contradictory and chronically unstable geographies of actually existing neoliberalism. Throughout the advanced capitalist world, we suggest, cities have become strategically crucial geographical arenas in which a variety of neoliberal initiatives—along with closely intertwined strategies of crisis displacement and crisis management—have been articulated.
Cities and the Geographies of "Actually Existing Neoliberalism
Antipode, 2002
This essay elaborates a critical geographical perspective on neoliberalism that emphasizes (a) the path-dependent character of neoliberal reform projects and (b) the strategic role of cities in the contemporary remaking of political-economic space. We begin by presenting the methodological foundations for an approach to the geographies of what we term "actually existing neoliberalism." In contrast to neoliberal ideology, in which market forces are assumed to operate according to immutable laws no matter where they are "unleashed," we emphasize the contextual embeddedness of neoliberal restructuring projects insofar as they have been produced within national, regional, and local contexts defined by the legacies of inherited institutional frameworks, policy regimes, regulatory practices, and political struggles. An adequate understanding of actually existing neoliberalism must therefore explore the path-dependent, contextually specific interactions between inherited regulatory landscapes and emergent neoliberal, market-oriented restructuring projects at a broad range of geographical scales. These considerations lead to a conceptualization of contemporary neoliberalization processes as catalysts and expressions of an ongoing creative destruction of political-economic space at multiple geographical scales. While the neoliberal restructuring projects of the last two decades have not established a coherent basis for sustainable capitalist growth, it can be argued that they have nonetheless profoundly reworked the institutional infrastructures upon which Fordist-Keynesian capitalism was grounded. The concept of creative destruction is presented as a useful means for describing the geographically uneven, socially regressive, and politically volatile trajectories of institutional/spatial change that have been crystallizing under these conditions. The essay concludes by discussing the role of urban spaces within the contradictory and chronically unstable geographies of actually existing neoliberalism. Throughout the advanced capitalist world, we suggest, cities have become strategically crucial geographical arenas in which a variety of neoliberal initiatives-along with closely intertwined strategies of crisis displacement and crisis management-have been articulated.
Neoliberalization processes have been reshaping the landscapes of urban development for more than three decades, but their forms and consequences continue to evolve through an eclectic blend of failure and crisis, regulatory experimentation, and policy transfer across places, territories and scales. The proliferation of familiar neoliberal discourses and policy formulations in the aftermath of the 2007-09 world financial crisis masks evidence of more deeply rooted transformations of policies, institutions and spaces that continue to combatively remake terrains of urban development. Accordingly, the critical intellectual project of deciphering the problematic of neoliberal urbanism must continue to evolve. This essay outlines some of the methodological and political challenges associated with (re)constructing a moving map of post-crisis neoliberalization processes. We affirm a form of critical urban theory that adopts a restlessly antagonistic stance towards orthodox urban formations and their dominant ideologies, institutional arrangements and societal effects, tracking their endemic policy failures and crisis tendencies while at the same time demarcating potential terrains for heterodox, radical and/or insurgent theories and practices of emancipatory social change.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2013
Neoliberalization processes have been reshaping the landscapes of urban development for more than three decades, but their forms and consequences continue to evolve through an eclectic blend of failure and crisis, regulatory experimentation, and policy transfer across places, territories and scales. The proliferation of familiar neoliberal discourses and policy formulations in the aftermath of the 2007-09 world financial crisis masks evidence of more deeply rooted transformations of policies, institutions and spaces that continue to combatively remake terrains of urban development. Accordingly, the critical intellectual project of deciphering the problematic of neoliberal urbanism must continue to evolve. This essay outlines some of the methodological and political challenges associated with (re)constructing a Јmoving mapЈ of post-crisis neoliberalization processes. We affirm a form of critical urban theory that adopts a restlessly antagonistic stance towards orthodox urban formations and their dominant ideologies, institutional arrangements and societal effects, tracking their endemic policy failures and crisis tendencies while at the same time demarcating potential terrains for heterodox, radical and/or insurgent theories and practices of emancipatory social change.
"The Challenges of Urban Activism in the New Neoliberal Context"
2014
El objetivo de este trabajo es investigar los retos que enfrenta el activismo urbano contemporáneo en el nuevo contexto neoliberal. Este contexto típicamente occidental se caracteriza por una creciente atmósfera de consenso que es 'post-política' y 'post-crítica'. En la práctica artística, la 'política' y la 'crítica' han sido más y más olvidado por varias 'vueltas éticas'-que han sido continuamente recuperado para servir el dictado neoliberal de la omni-economización. Mecanismos de recuperación cada vez más astutos-como la incorporación de artistas y activistas en la reestructuración de operaciones de aburguesamientos-se han aprovechado de los efectos intrínsecos de despolitizar a la más reciente "vuelta ética". La definición de Jacques Rancière de lo "político" como una reconfiguración disensual del statu quo es fundamental para calibrar y conectar a tierra la dimensión política del activismo urbano. Además, su definición de 'democracia' justifica los desafíos políticos que pudiesen interrumpir a tecnocrática "buen gobierno". Para situar la más reciente "vuelta ética", movimientos y tendencias históricas dentro de las disciplinas del arte, la arquitectura y el urbanismo son investigados con respecto a sus ambiciones políticas, componente utópico y de los procesos de recuperación que se han convertido a menudo instantánea e incluso preventiva. Ciertas disposiciones fundamentales se recomiendan para el activismo urbano dentro de un enfoque pluralista. La definición de Rancière de "lo político" es la base para la articulación de activismo tanto conceptual como táctico, mientras que el 'utopismo dialéctico' de David Harvey sugiere un modelo para la integración de la utopía. La máxima de Francis Alÿs 'a veces' ilustra el potencial de la ambigüedad inherente a los enfoques artísticos. Estrategias contemporáneas de disenso, sobre-identificación, oscilación y entrelazado y espacialización pueden ser eficaces. Y, mientras que una disposición holístico transdiciplinaria es una brújula esencial, la disciplinariedad se puede emplear estratégicamente. La eficacia marginal del activismo urbano es una condición estructural y no debe distraer la atención de la amenaza mucho mayor de despolitización. Esta amenaza se ve agravada por el aumento de la sincronización de los dominios, los objetivos y los intereses de los capitalistas neoliberales, los tecnócratas, los artistas, los profesionales alternativos y los 'creativos'. Para mantener una actitud crítica y resistir a la recuperación, activistas urbanos pueden combinar las claras definiciones de Rancièreian de "lo politico" y de "la democracia" con una sofisticación tanto en la disposición como en la estrategia a través de integraciones hibridados de utopismo dialéctico, la ambigüedad, la ambivalencia, el disenso, la 'sobre-identificación', la autonomía y la espacialización disciplinaria, teniendo cuidado de centrarse tanto en lo residual como en el núcleo de la sociedad. Palabras clave: activismo urbano, despolitización, vueltas éticas, la política, la recuperación