ABSTRACT
Chapter 3, entitled ‘Localism in context’, notes that place, space and scale are key elements of social and political organization. Most communities of place have a unique identity and elements of social structure and governance. These are created through processes of ‘structuration’, resulting in ‘scalar fixes’ of varying durations. Over time, this has led to the emergence of sovereign states as humanity’s main mechanism for co-ordinating public affairs. Before 1950 the principal dynamic within states was towards integration and assimilation, but many states have since decentralized policy functions. Meanwhile, international relations activity between states has burgeoned, and there has also been an increase in the number of small states operating independently. Globalization has forced many small and medium-sized states to align themselves with regional power blocks, where their interests can be better served. The most prominent of these is the European Union (EU), where a distinctive style of multi-level governance has developed. The unique modus operandi of the EU has helped promote the idea of regional and sub-national autonomy within a wider sub-continental system. However, the EU has been reluctant to intervene in the fraught stand-off over regional autonomy currently playing out between Catalonia and Spain.
