Strategy and the Contested Politics of Scale: Air Transportation in Australia

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which the contested reconfiguration of air transportation infrastructures following deregulation in Australia resulted in the rescaling of air transportation services and their disassociation from the scales of political jurisdictions. In tracing the complex interactions between the state’s and firms’ strategies and their impacts at different scales, the article contends that it is not sufficient to view scale as an arena and outcome of political struggle. Rather, it argues for an activated understanding of scale as strategy. The reconfigurations of the scales of transportation networks in Australia reveal their profound implications for the production of space: for social equity, the fortunes of cities, and the manner of Australia’s insertion in the international division of labor.