Territory and Democratic Politics

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Frontmatter

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2. Chapter 1. Why and How Territory

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   This introductory chapter highlights the relevance of the territorial dimension in contemporary democratic politics and how it can be incorporated into a conceptual configuration of a territory-oriented approach in political sociology. It also emphasises the need for an interdisciplinary dialogue between political sociology and the humanities—in particular, with geographic scholarship—to better understand the complexities of the territorial dimension in democratic politics.

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3. Chapter 2. Strength and Limits of Unterritorial Approaches

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   The relevance of the notion of territory is often overlooked in political sociology. This chapter explores how powerful scientific narratives like nationalist methodology, mass society, globalism and theories of audience democracy contribute to neglect the concept of territory. At the same time, the chapter stresses how recent transformations in contemporary democracies would provide rising relevance of territorial-oriented approaches.

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4. Chapter 3. Towards a Territory-Oriented Approach

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   This chapter discusses how the concept of territory is key to understanding contemporary democratic politics. Assuming its polysemic meaning and its different uses of the concept in humanities and social sciences, the heuristic strength of territory is identified in conjunction with a set of related concepts. Throughout an interdisciplinary dialogue, it is explored how the concept of territory takes on relevance in relation to space, political institution, strategy, appropriation, place, borders and networks.

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5. Chapter 4. Beyond the Territorial State?

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   When a territory is stabilised and acquires an institutional character, it takes the form of a delimited space with fixed boundaries that is controlled by a group of people and has exclusive internal sovereignty and equal external status. The paradigmatic example of an institutionalised territorial space in modern times is the state, as it always presupposes a territory. But how does this relationship develop? This chapter discusses the role of the concept of territory in relation to the state and the historical dynamics shaping this relationship.

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6. Chapter 5. Changing Democratic Citizenship

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   Territorial approaches to democratic politics can help gain a better understanding of the rise of Western nation-building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which has long been studied separately from the history of the modern state and democracy. This chapter demonstrates how a territorial approach to politics can facilitate a discussion of the concepts of population, people and citizenship in an era of global migration.

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7. Chapter 6. Territorial Voting

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   The analysis of voting behaviour is an important component of a territory-oriented research agenda. Starting with an approach based on political cleavages, this chapter tries to demonstrate how centre–periphery and urban–rural divides continue to shape voting patterns in contemporary democracies. Although globalisation and urbanisation have transformed territorial ties in profound ways, recent examples of elections and referendums in Europe and the United States have demonstrated that voting orientations continue to be influenced by the places where people grow up and live.

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8. Chapter 7. Territorial Populism

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   This chapter shows how territory-oriented thinking helps to enrich the heuristic strength of populism, one of the most controversial yet prevalent concepts in social and political science. It is argued that populism and territory are strongly intertwined concepts. Territory is an implicit dimension in populist rhetoric, especially when nationalist and sovereignist claims are at stake. The notion of border, which stresses the protective dimension of the territory, is also closely related to populism and contributes to enriching the analytical agenda of territorial approaches to politics.

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9. Chapter 8. A Global Territorial Crisis

   • Open Access

   Oscar Mazzoleni

   Abstract

   The COVID-19 pandemic was a global territorial crisis. This chapter will discuss the impact of lockdown measures and restrictions on society, government and territoriality in European countries. We will delve into how these measures changed the role of territorial states, how they reproduced or exacerbated social inequalities, how they affected the flows of goods and people and how they related to the dynamics between institutional powers and the emergence of ideological-political controversies about the political responses to the pandemic.

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10. Chapter 9. Thinking Democratic Politics with Territory

    • Open Access

    Oscar Mazzoleni

    Abstract

    This final chapter summarises that territory plays a crucial role in mediating the relationship between society and politics. The key characteristics of a territorial approach to political analysis are discussed, and three ideal types are identified, which highlight a territory’s stability, contingency and politicisation.

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11. Backmatter

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