ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the book’s theoretical foundations, with a focus on the construction of metaphorical systems that include conceptualisations of the state, rural, urban and nature, and relates these to one another in overarching conceptions of social-environmental relationships. The chapter first discusses the metaphorical nature of concepts, the ways in which discourse as well as other theory can be used to capture their enduring or institutional character and, lastly, applications of these insights in theories relating to the state. The chapter thus illustrates the understanding that all these levels can be considered to be connected by specific types of logics that designate the social, urban, centres as being apart from nature, or the rural. The metaphorical nature of concepts thereby results in simplified and patterned understandings across scales.
