Sociology, Political Science, State 

"An intelligent, imaginative, and integrative work...[Kirby's] in-depth analyses...reveal the contradictory and chaotic strategies through which the state, local interests, and ordinary citizens construct the world around them." - James Farr, University of Minnesota. "Right on the mark...in insisting that an understanding of the contemporary state requires an understanding of the ways in which that state intersects with the local state." - Allen Pred, University of California, Berkeley. In a development of enormous significance for U.S. politics, we may be witnessing the weakening of the power of the state in our lives. Kirby finds evidence of local resistance to the continued growth of the state - as residents attempt to take control of their lives through actions that range from local gun-control ordinances to municipal foreign policy - and ties the development of this collective action to the evolution of local political jurisdictions. Linking local state theory to the growth of the modern state, Kirby shows how tensions in capitalist society over economic issues and styles of life are worked through within the local state. Using the example of the Mexican-American borderlands, he shows how social relations can develop in place, in ways that contradict the intentions of powerful state institutions. This important book will interest anyone concerned with state-society relations, collective action, and resistance. - from Amzon