Authoritarian power and contestation beyond the state

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on authoritarian connections beyond the state requires a transregional practices approach. This special issue is an invitation to combine critical approaches to the study of authoritarian power by paying attention to spaces of contestation, authoritarian practices, as well as non-state actors and agency below and beyond the scale of the state. We focus on authoritarian practices and their spatial and temporal articulations in (1) transregional infrastructures, (2) global processes of capital accumulation and (3) nature-society relations. This enables us to capture the diversity of authoritarian actors and the interconnectedness of authoritarian power and forms of contestation across time and space. Drawing on logistics and infrastructure literature, we reconcile the contextualization of power relations with multi-scalar authoritarian practices beyond the inside-outside binary of national territoriality. We thus offer a conceptual approach to understanding the violent and repressive practices inherent to a continuum of different political settings, including liberal governance.