Special Issue in Territory, Politics, Governance (under review)
Abstract submission deadline: May 27, 2026 , Paper submission deadline: September 1, 2026
Guest editors:
Gala Nettelbladt, Institute for European Urban Studies, Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany (gala.nettelbladt@uni-weimar.de)
Matthias Naumann, Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Wuerzburg, Germany (matthias.naumann@uni-wuerzburg.de)
This special issue sets out to grapple with the current shifts of the local state, its institutions and bureaucracies in Europe against the backdrop of the contemporary era of polycrisis. Following accounts that see the neoliberal order coming to a close (Gerstle 2022), the proposed special issue interrogates to what extent we are on the cusp of the appearance of new local forms of statehood, state institutions and practices, all of which emerge in the field of tension between progressive transformation and authoritarian takeover.
The state, state formations and statehood have been of major interest to critical human geographers and urban theorists for decades (Brenner 2004, Jessop 2008, Serin et al. 2020). However, we contend that the contemporary moment requires fresh analysis. Across Europe, local states are in a dire predicament, experiencing the consequences of austerity cuts, shortages of expertise and staff as well as a lack of trust in (local) government. Overlapping crises such as climate change, military conflicts and displacement, precarious provisions of public services, the production of so-called left-behind spaces and the rise of the far right pose severe challenges to its institutions – on various scales and across a wide range of sectors. This situation has sparked seemingly paradoxical developments. In some contexts, it has evoked the loss of legitimacy of democratic institutions and authoritarian takeover, while in other cases the local state is becoming an arena for progressive state projects tailored at social justice and sustainability.
The aim of the special issue is to complicate binary thinking that can be quick to romanticise progressive local institutions or paint a homogenous picture of authoritarian situations. Paying close attention to the intricacies of the local state, we want to draw attention to its inherent contradictions and frictions by asking: How do progressivism and authoritarianism play out in the everyday processes of the local state? What are the ‘grey spaces’ where they might overlap and even coproduce each other? What power relations shape these processes? This demands analysis of the particular shifts in statehood that this contemporary moment of transition is witnessing. We are inspired by accounts that shed light onto the political potential of the local state (Beveridge & Cochrane 2023), recent debates around progressive approaches of a new municipalism (Beveridge & Naumann 2023, Russell 2019, Thompson 2021) as well as local bureaucratic insurgencies in the context of authoritarian central governments (Nicholls & Baran 2024) or sustainability transitions (Vestergaard & Schmid 2026). In this light, we are particularly interested in the internal contradictions and procedures of the local state as contested terrain with regards to the rise of the far right (Nettelbladt 2025). Furthermore, the planned special issue connects to previous contributions in Territory, Politics, Governance, e.g., the changing provision of public services by the local state (Bianchi et al. 2022), the emergence of new digital state spaces (Schou & Hjelholt 2019) or transforming territorialities of statehood (Sabin 2025).
The planned special issue focusses on three key questions which we conceive of not as mutually exclusive, but rather as entangled:
- New spaces within the state. In what ways is the local state and its institutions changing “from within”? What experiences exist on the local level, what are aspirations and contradictions of progressive as well as authoritarian transformations of state institutions? Which ruptures, endurances or incremental changes can be identified?
- New spaces outside the state. How do social movements, local initiatives etc. create their own institutions outside of state control while providing public services? What are the potentials as well as limitations or dangers of this approach? How is statehood changed by spaces outside the state? What are the possibilities to collaborate with state actors?
- New spaces through the state. Which methodological approaches and difficulties exist to empirically access changing forms of statehood and public administration? Which ethnographies, counter-cartographies as well as emotional geographies emerge from empirical work on the state? How are academic institutions as state institutions transforming?
Submission instructions:
Interested authors should submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to all issue editors (Gala Nettelbladt, gala.nettelbladt@uni-weimar.de, and Matthias Naumann, matthias.naumann@uni-wuerzburg.de) by May 27, 2026. The abstract should include a title, details of author(s), and the abstract text. We particularly encourage empirical submissions focusing on Eastern and Southern European contexts. The guest editors promise a fast decision on the final inclusion in the revised Special Issue proposal.
References
Beveridge, Ross & Cochrane, Allan (2023): Exploring the Political Potential of the Local State: Building a Dialogue with Sheffield in the 1980s. Antipode 55(3), 790–809. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12908
Beveridge, Ross & Naumann, Matthias (2023): Progressive Urbanism in Small Towns: The Contingencies of Governing From the Left. Urban Affairs Review 59(1), 43–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874211055834
Bianchi, Iolanda, Marina Pera & Laura Calvet-Mir (2024): Urban Commons and the Local State: Co-Production between Enhancement and Co-Optation. Territory, Politics, Governance 12(9),1333–52. https://doi.org/10..1080/21622671.2022.2108491
Brenner, Neil (2004): New State Spaces. Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gerstle, Gary (2022): The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jessop, Bob (2008): State Power: A Strategic-Relational Approach. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Nettelbladt, Gala (2025): Negotiating Counterstrategies against the Far Right in Cottbus, Germany: Shifting Relations between the State and Civil Society. Territory, Politics, Governance. 13(3), 324-343. https://doi.org/10..1080/21622671.2023.2209126
Nicholls, Walter J. & Baran, Ian (2024): Bureaucratic Politicisation and Insurgent Bureaucrats: A Theoretical Framework. Antipode 56(6), 2293–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.13072
Russell, Bertie (2019): Beyond the Local Trap: New Municipalism and the Rise of the Fearless Cities. Antipode 51(3), 989–1010. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12520
Sabin, Jerald (2025): What Is a Territory? Comparative Federalism and State Formation in North America. Territory, Politics, Governance 13(2), 107–23. https://doi.org/10..1080/21622671.2022.2158922
Schou, Jannick, & Hjelholt, Morten (2019): Digital State Spaces: State Rescaling and Advanced Digitalization. Territory, Politics, Governance 7(4), 438–54. https://doi.org/10..1080/21622671.2018.1532809
Thompson, Matthew (2021): What’s so new about New Municipalism? Progress in Human Geography 45(2), 317–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132520909480
Vestergaard, Line K. & Schmid, Benedikt (2026): Institutional Activism within the Local State: Exploring Ambitions for Deep Transformation in Amsterdam. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 59, 101092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2025.101092