Globalization or Glocalisation Networks, Territories and...

Globalisation or ‘Glocalisation’? Networks, Territories and Rescaling Erik Swyngedouw University of Oxford Abstract This paper argues that the alleged process of globalisation should be recast as a process of ‘glocalisation’. ‘Glocalisation’ refers to the twin process whereby, ï ¬ rstly, institutional/regulatory arrangements shift from the national scale both upwards to supra-national or global scales and downwards to the scale of the individual body or to local, urban or regional conï ¬ gurations and, secondly, economic activities and inter-ï ¬ rm networks are becoming simultaneously more localised/regionalised and transnational. In particular, attention will be paid to the political and economic dynamics of this geographical rescaling and its†¦show more content†¦Crucial to this argument is the idea that social life is process based, in a state of perpetual change, transformation and reconï ¬ guration (see Harvey 1996). Starting analysis from a given geographical scale, such as the local, regional, national or global, seems to me, therefore, to be deeply antagonistic to apprehending the world in a dynamic, process-based manner. This has profound implications for the signiï ¬ cance of spatial scale. I conceive scalar conï ¬ gurations as the outcome of socio-spatial processes that regulate and organise social power relations, such as the contested making and remaking of the European Union or the process of state devolution or decentralisation. The emergence of new territorial scales of governance and the redeï ¬ nition of existing scales (like the nation-state) change the regulation and organisation of social, political and economic power relations. Over the past few years, a plethora of research has been