States and their territorializations: Class, local dependence, and how geohistory matters

Abstract

Despite its significance for social research, the territorial structure of the state remains a lacuna. States can vary quite significantly, but this is not something attracting attention. Understanding this variation depends first on a recognition of the capitalist form of the state. The result is that class conflicts have to enter into their division into sub-units and the powers and responsibilities accorded to them. These conflicts are never indifferent to questions of uneven development. Accordingly, the local or regional nature of class interests has to enter into struggles around the state's territorial structure. On the other hand, geohistory matters. Contemporary struggles unfold in conditions relayed from a pre-capitalist past or from the early years of capitalist development, and these conditions can vary very considerably from one country to another. These claims are illustrated by a comparison of the American and British cases.