Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to stimulate empirical and theoretical research focused on understanding how political concepts, practices, and instruments translate across scales, and contribute to the emergence of a self-aware community of scholars and practitioners focusing explicitly on modeling the dynamics of local-regional-global interactions. It examines the non-reductionist analysis of globalization and the recursive relationships between the local and the global. The book concentrates on reflections concerning the epistemology and methodology of scale analysis. It explores the international consequences of local power dynamics. It also reverses the perspective to examine the local use or impact of global discourses, practices, and trends. Insufficient sensitivity to and analytical capacity for understanding local social realities still inhibit the effectiveness and responsive capacity of development organizations and interventions.