Open questions on state rescaling

Abstract

Recent work on state rescaling has opened up productive lines of theorization and research. However, this literature contains many open theoretical, interpretive, methodological and empirical questions. By drawing attention to several of these, this article aims to promote reflection and debate on possible future lines of research within this field. I argue, in particular, for greater attention to questions of method—specifically, to the mediations linking abstract concepts to concrete, contextually specific investigations. The article concludes by outlining three research frontiers that could be productively explored within future work on state rescaling—logics of explanation, comparative analyses and questions of periodization.

state space, state rescaling, political economy of scale, periodization

B5, F59, R38