Reflections on the Refusal to Acknowledge Private Governments

Abstract

In this chapter I will argue that the state-centred view of governance that excludes, or at least obscures, private governments and continues to dom- inate our thinking has been, and continues to be, a particularly tenacious paradigm. For all its staying power, however, and indeed because of it, it is a paradigm that needs to be eclipsed. This is so not simply because this state-centred view of the world is preventing us from developing an understanding of the world that captures what has been taking place, but because it is limiting normative thinking. It is restricting our ability to comprehend and respond to the divisions that are being created in the world by limiting our awareness of the sources of these divisions and the options and opportunities available to challenge and, hopefully, reverse them.