The Search for Political Space

In The Search for Political Space, Warren Magnusson argues that the emergent political spaces of the twenty-first century will be more like local municipalities than sovereign states. These ambivalent spaces point beyond themselves and disrupt the dominant discourse of sovereignty. In an effort to rethink the boundaries and horizons of contemporary politics, the author focuses on the practical experiences of recent social movements in relation to municipal government. Using examples from Britain, the United States, and Canada, he proposes that, although constrained by the state, the market, and the modern social disciplines, municipal politics offers a place where ordinary people can engage locally with global issues. The discussion ranges over such topics as socialist economics, municipal foreign policy, feminist direct action intergovernmental fiscal struggles, environmental activism, the politics of identity, and the practices of local democracy. From various perspectives, Magnusson addresses the underlying question: how can people use the space afforded by the municipality to transcend the political limits of the state? The Search for Political Space is a valuable contribution to the study of urban politics within the context of political theory, and the issues and arguments it raises are fundamental to discussions of the future of politics in the twenty-first century.