Why is austerity governable? A Gramscian urban regime analysis of Leicester, UK

Austerity has been delivered in the UK without durably effective resistance. Read through a dialogue between urban regime theory and Gramsci's theory of the integral state, the article considers how austerity was normalized and made governable in the city of Leicester. It shows how Leicester na...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of urban affairs 2020-01, Vol.42 (1), p.56-74
Main Authors:	Davies, Jonathan S., Bua, Adrian, Cortina-Oriol, Mercè, Thompson, Ed
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Austerity policy Economic crisis Entrepreneurs Governance Hegemony Local government Local politics Multiculturalism & pluralism Political history Political theory Realism Resistance Urban areas
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Austerity has been delivered in the UK without durably effective resistance. Read through a dialogue between urban regime theory and Gramsci's theory of the integral state, the article considers how austerity was normalized and made governable in the city of Leicester. It shows how Leicester navigated waves of crisis, restructuring, and austerity, positioning itself as a multicultural city of entrepreneurs. The article explores historical influences on the development of the local state, inscribed in the politics of austerity governance today. From a regime-theoretical standpoint, it shows how the local state accrued the governing resources to deliver austerity while disorganizing and containing resistance. Imbued with legacies of past struggles, this process of organized disorganization produced a functional hegemony articulated in the multiple subjectivities of "austerian realism." The article elaborates six dimensions of Gramscian regime analysis to inform further research.
ISSN:	0735-2166 1467-9906