Politicising proximity: Radical municipalism as a strategy in crisis

Abstract

As new municipalism comes of age, prefixes proliferate: from democratic and autonomist to post-growth and care municipalisms. How do all these variegations relate to each other and to the wider movement of which they claim a part? What does all this conceptual creativity amount to, epistemologically and politically? How can we distill the most salient lessons for the further development of theory and practice in the years ahead? This article is our attempt to answer such questions and to define more precisely the contours of this emerging field of praxis. First, we delineate within new municipalism the target of our analytical gaze – radical municipalism. Radical municipalism is not simply progressive policies happening in cities, and should not be conflated with pragmatic, entrepreneurial or state-centric perspectives. Rather, we argue it is a speculative hypothesis about how systemic transformation might be wrought through coordinated action at the urban or municipal scale, understood as a strategic entry-point for counter-hegemonic struggle. Key here is proximity and the politicisation and socialisation of proximate relations of encounter and assembly. Second, we delve deeper into what we identify as four salient dimensions marking this terrain – economic reorganisation, democratisation of political decision-making, feminisation of politics, ecological transformation – as a multi-dimensional lens through which to introduce, and situate within the wider literature, the 15 articles that comprise this double special issue. Throughout these contributions to the theory and practice of municipalist strategy, the issue of crisis looms large: both historically, as an animating spur to action and opportunity for political intervention, and operationally, as a structuring condition and limiting factor of a strategy arguably in crisis itself. Finally, we reflect on the epistemological, methodological and political implications of pursuing radical municipalist strategies in the current conjuncture.

Prospects for municipal stewardship as a national policy: A scoping review and thematic synthesis

“…Drawing on Bookchin’s work (1986) on different types of municipalism, and observing the variegated implementations of the municipalist ideal, a variety of typologies have been developed (see e.g. Roth et al, 2023). Among these, Thompson proposes three variegated subcategories of new municipalism (Thompson, 2021: 3) (see Figure 2).…”

“…For example, Russell (2019) argued that increasingly the municipal is framed as a ‘smaller and thus inherently better or more democratic level of governance’ (Russell, 2019: 991). The variety of new municipalist approaches also reflect the fundamental distinction between Bookchin’s-inspired radical municipalism, focused on transformational social change, and ‘progressive policies’ centred around municipality as a locus or municipalised local economies (Roth et al, 2023). As Russell (2019: 995) noted, democratisation is dependent on who is involved in the process of democratisation and the place through which it happens.…”

The municipalism assault and its participatory challenges: Progress and limits in institutionalising and embedding participation

“…According to Thompson, new municipalism can be defined as a political project based on institutional, economic, and social democratisation at the local level (Thompson 2020). In this sense, the "local" -the proximity -is considered to be the best sphere from which to materialise democracy (Roth et al 2023). But far from falling into essentialism, the local is not considered to be a space of democratisation in itself, a recurrent theme debated in contemporary political thought (Dahl 1967, Newton 1982), but rather a space in political dispute from which to think about new state spatialities 1 All translations from Spanish by author.…”

“…The new municipalism emerges as a reaction to the austerity policies promoted since the 2008 crisis (Peck 2012, Knight and Stewart 2016, Davies and Blanco 2017 and proposes a new social, ecological, and feminist agenda based on democratic principles (Roth, et al, 2023). In this democratisation process, two spheres of action are identified.…”

The democratising capacity of new municipalism: beyond direct democracy in public–common partnerships

“…However, these rest on different values and objectives. New municipalism is rooted in a 'dual power' approach (Roth et al, 2023). This approach does not aim to reduce the scope and financial resources of the state but to reaffirm its responsibilities, as in the bureaucratic public administration approach, while empowering communities by granting them decision-making power, resources and rights.…”