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Simon Curtis
Global Cities and Global Order
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016, 240 pp.
ISBN 978–0–19–874401–6
Nasuh Sofuoğlu, RTE University, Research Assistant/ Kadir Has University, PhD candidate
The number of city dwellers has become more than half of the contemporary world
population since people have been pouring into urban areas for centuries. This drastic
alteration of lifestyle has had an enormous impact on humanity as such demographic trends
have always had prodigious effect on peoples. Therefore, the future of humanity, implicitly or
explicitly, is contoured by the developments happening in the cities. On that note,
urbanization, the impacts of city life in human history and such topics have been gradually
drawing scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the contribution of international relations (IR)
protagonists to the literature is relatively scarce as the topics do not fit any level of analysis
that IR academics have utilized up to now. Indeed, it is highly questionable how the
mainstream IR proponents can integrate the city into state-centric analyses of the international
system. Yet, the city has become interwoven with the state which renders the city pivotal to
any analysis related to IR. Cities have been a key component of societies since the first ones
were built. They are where revolutions are ignited, reforms are made, technology thrives and
new forms of economy, politics and society emerges. Yet, IR scholars could not have a grasp
of the cities’ prominence until the 2000s.
Simon Curtis is one of the scholars who laid eyes on the resurgence of the cities. “Global
Cities and Global Order” is the offspring of his interest in the subject. This contribution to the
literature on the cities makes sense of the advent of the global cities in the context of IR
understanding of the global transformation. It integrates the term “global city” into the IR
context and explains this new phenomenon within the IR theory perspective. It argues that the
‘global city’ is an inextricable part of the debates on the future of the state and the
international order. Indeed, Curtis posits that the resurgence of the ‘global city’ must be
understood as a component of the changing nature of the global political order by drawing
attention to the importance of economics in the process, inter alia, since the global order is
characteristically neoliberal.
The author evidently and plainly defines the “global city”, i.e. the drivers of globalization (p.
2), in advance in order to clarify the foundations of his arguments. The human history is
fraught with various renaissance and reform processes. It is these critical junctures that carve
our mindset, ergo the environment around it. The advent of global cities is a case which
should be evaluated in this context since the author regards “global city” as a product of such
a renaissance and an integral part of the reformation of the global economy in the 1970s. The
changing character of the urban culture is what has ushered in the arrival of global cities
which has been underway for decades. The cities have become the impetus for “globalization”
in time. They are the nodal points of global capital flow. This is why some of these quite
ordinary cities have transmuted into something else throughout the world. There are many
vibrant cities such as New York, Hong Kong and London which have grown into nexus of
universal network of “global cities” in which capital, people, ideas etc. flow in and out.
Indeed, these cities are named ‘global cities’ to delineate their character and display their
relative prominence to the global politics by Curtis.
Curtis articulates the main argument via three key themes, namely the construction of socio-
technical assemblages, the ongoing dialectic of capital and territory and the nature of the
global order. He utilizes these key themes by reviewing early scholarly works and sticking
with historical accuracy. Indeed, he scrutinizes the forms of city from hunter-gatherer society
through the industrial cities to the global cities.
The main argument of the book is that the global cities are at the epicenter of the future of the
global order. This is detrimental to the mainstream IR reasoning and roams at the margins of
traditional IR thought. Indeed, Curtis posits that the form that the global order will take will
necessitate the analysis of the “global city.” He bases his argument on the aforementioned
three key themes. First, the construction of socio-technological assemblages involves the
interaction between the “global city” and the course of technological advancements. Second,
the correlation between capital and territory highlights space and spatiality. The emergence of
new social spaces endangers the traditional foundations of the international system. Curtis’
argument here is that, following Hannes Lacher (2006)’s dialectic of capital and territory (p.
13), there is a certain discrepancy between the transnational economic system and state-based
political system. Curtis argues that the contradictions between the spatial understanding of
order and the transactional one spawns conflicts shaping the future. Last but not least, there is
the interaction between the “global cities” and the global order. Curtis displays the “global
cities” as an integral part of the international society with certain capabilities and power.
Especially, the governance attribute of global cities, which renders them closer to the citizenry
than the state governments, may enable them to have influence on international affairs in the
future.
Curtis embarks on a quest to answer some of the most fundamental and essential queries of IR
such as the evolution of sovereignty, the surge of neoliberal economy and the spatial
understanding of politics in this book. Curtis points to the main nexus of the contemporary
global politics by underlining the prominence of economy and global market to the
predominantly neoliberal international politics. The argument of the book offers a unique
perspective to appreciate the historical interaction between cities and states. It draws attention
to the liberal international order led by the United States (US) hegemony, which formed a
certain international system. The driving forces of this system delivered the global cities. The
role the global cities play in the contemporary international system has gradually increased.
The striking influence of economics on the resurgence of the “global city” is fairly depicted
by Curtis. Yet, what renders his work remarkable is that he adds IR into the equation. The
global city meets IR theorizing thanks to the author’s outstanding take on the role of the
“global city” in the changing international system. He utilizes the English School’s
assumptions on the international system, Barry Buzan, Karl Polanyi, Henri Lefebvre and
many other influential characters and fields of academia in this regard.
Curtis initiates his book by developing a theoretical framework enabling the reader to
recognize and appreciate the unique character of the “global city.” Accordingly, chapter 1
studies the ways cities are contemplated on, namely the city as abstraction, the cities of capital
and industry and the city as institution. Thus, the chapter surfaces the conceptual and material
features of the “city”. Curtis relies on the term “cityspace” borrowed from Edward Soja
(2000) (pp. 39) in this chapter. The term unravels the types of city life by scrutinizing cities’
social structures, namely the proto-city, the agrarian city, the industrial city and the post-
metropolis. Curtis agrees with Soja (2000) on the point that only a small amount of city types
is ingrained to the mainstream history accounts. The global city may be among the privileged
minority in this context. Later on, the chapter deals with the particular features of global city.
The global city’s gravitational field draws people who produce and consume, and the city
creates regions by this way to itself. Air and high-speed rail transportation shrink the world
day by day and render the distances a neutral element in the equation. Thus, the global cities
become the impulse to globalization and vice versa.
Chapter 2 reviews the literature on cities and provides a perspective to comprehend its driving
forces. Curtis criticizes the economics-focused approach to the “global cities.” He emphasizes
the political implications of the advent of the ‘global city’, which were not explained in earlier
works. The author mentions two different understandings of the “global city.” Former makes
use of the tenets of the Annales School and its longue durée approach (p. 60), which basically
focuses on structures rather than events in comprehending history and world economy. The
latter regards the “global cities” as a post-modern phenomenon (p. 61). The “global cities” are
comprehended as a unique territorial reflection of capitalism. It is this capitalism-related
understanding of the ‘global cities’ that enables Curtis to add politics, technology and culture
to the equation. Later on, Curtis ponders over two contradicting approaches, namely the
hierarchical approach and the networked understanding of the “global cities.” In the former,
the cities are anticipated as hierarchically structured components of nation-states. It is this
approach that urges a complex understanding of cities, which necessitates comprehension of
cities as an integral part of larger systems. In the latter, various kinds of social relations
become the focal point of research on the ‘global cities’ since the revolutionary breakthroughs
in the information and communication technologies have altered social relations by making
communication between two entities possible without these entities being in the same place.
Yet, none of these contributions to the literature has clarified the underlying reasons of the
coming of the “global city” and how to theorize it. All in all, these cities are in a constant
transformation process. The contemporary examples of these cities are at odds with
modernity’s integrated understanding of them. Indeed, they are made of many clusters such as
corporate spaces and healthcare spaces. Chapter 2 elaborates above-mentioned approaches
and perspectives by simultaneously reviewing the literature.
Chapter 3 adds an almost unique feature to the book by taking an account of IR theory in
order to solidify the theoretical foundation of the book’s argument. It is the academic nexus of
the book elucidating the place of the cities in the global order by making use of IR theory.
Moreover, Curtis ponders over a number of IR perspectives such as Constructivism and the
English School. Curtis utilizes norms such as shared ideas and values in his definition of the
global political order. Then, the “global city” as a term is placed in a particular position in IR
debates on the international system. Chapter posits that the international system has been
going through a transformation regarding political units, systemic ordering principles and
spatial and temporal structure. This systemic transformation involves several phases from
hunter-gatherer society to the first city-like settlements and to the emergence of the industrial
cities. The “global city” is the latest phase of this transformation, ergo fundamental to
cogitating contemporary situation. Furthermore, the chapter states that any form of basic
social transformation contains an urban dimension. The chapter also articulates the
obsolescence of territoriality of state systems due to the global cities. The “dialectic of
territory and capital” (pp. 19) is at the epicentre of the main debate.
Chapter 4 delves into the aforesaid argument on the dialectic of territory and capital further.
Curtis asserts that this dialectic is the main determinant which drives any alteration in the
nature of global political order. Chapter reveals the coming of an unprecedented global order
entailing dispersed units such as transnational corporations and global cities indeed. The main
argument of this chapter is that hegemony of liberal values, stemming from the US leadership,
has enabled the dawn of a new global order throughout the world. The dissolution of the
Soviet Union and the consecutive unipolar world order has paved the way for the capitalist
world economy and the emergence of the “neoliberal political and economic philosophy” (p.
111), which promoted decentralisation. Also, the normative character of the new international
society deepened interdependence and cooperation via international regimes and institutions.
Moreover, advancements in information and communications technologies have contributed
to the construction of transnational networks setting actors free from outdated hierarchies.
However, Curtis foresees new challenges spawned by this new global order as well, which
may subvert the new international system. The traditional IR understanding of the world order
is obsolete in Curtis’s viewpoint. The states as actors have certain demarcation lines,
nevertheless these actors do not only operate within their borders. The global powers take
advantage of transnational flows in the contemporary world. So, the international order has
become complex and complicated with the states’ capacity to govern and influence vary
regardless of their spatial boundaries. Indeed, borderlines are not territorial or spatial
anymore. They are rather vague and ambiguous.
Chapter 5 draws attention to another dimension of the story which displays that the global
market society is as essential as the liberal norms in the emergence of the global cities. Curtis
articulates that the features of the “global city” reveals that global cities will also be global hot
spots of controversy. Yet, the coming of the global cities does not only involve challenges if
their potential is utilized. Curtis points to the soaring significance of the mayors of the global
cities which provides an opportunity for popular democracy in a world of deteriorating
national democracy. The chapter also mentions a few marginal propositions such as a global
“parliament of mayors” or a “confederal municipalism” by emphasizing that cities have
always played a vital role in the revolutionary movements such as the Occupy Movement and
the Tahrir Square during the Arab Uprisings.
The conclusion reemphasizes how the existing literature of IR enables us to perceive the term
“global city.” Additionally, it makes clear the fact that conceptualizing the transformation may
be beyond comprehension since the subject is located in uncharted waters. This sui generis
character of the new global order may pave the way for the development of a brand-new
theoretical discourse. The conundrum that the conclusion raises is how the future interaction
between the state and the city will take shape. Even though the “global city” is a by-product
of the market state, their common future will be a contentious and challenging one.
Curtis unravels the history of capital, states and cities in the context of global order. He makes
economic, social, political and security-related explanations to the changing nature of the
global order, which gives a further boost to global cities’ significance in the international
system. He postulates that social structures have facilitated territorially sovereign units during
the history of mankind up to this point. We are at the midst of a critical juncture in human
history since we are headed to a new global order. Curtis posits that there is no simple linear
narrative regarding the civilization process and challenges the traditional and rationalist
reasoning by giving multiple examples from history. Moreover, the book distinguishes itself
from the remainder of the literature with its emphasis on IR theory as an inextricable and key
part of book’s structure. Since Curtis does not aim to make innovative theoretical arguments,
the importance he gives to IR theory for the sake of the book’s main argument is worth to
mention. Curtis challenges the traditionalist way of thinking in IR, but still sticks with IR
theory, i.e. critical aspect of it, to strengthen his argument, which adds to the book’s value.
What the book offers to the reader is rather intriguing. On the one hand, the book does not
bear any pioneering or new information. On the other hand, what Curtis argues is extremely
unique. The book agglomerates distinctive academic works and research and clarifies the
transformation process of the global city. It asserts that the interaction between the city and
the state cannot be comprehended without adding the international system into the equation
since the latest advancements in the information and communications technologies broadens
the cities’ reach and builds bridges among other cities throughout the world. This special bond
contributes to the emergence of the “global cities” and changes the nature of the relationship
between the “city” and the “state”. Therefore, the international system becomes a component
of this unique bond. It is more of a trilateral interaction than a bilateral one. Thus, the book is
a sui generis contribution to the literature.
The city as a level of analysis in IR may not fit in the traditional and widely recognised IR
levels of analysis. Nevertheless, IR is a rapidly evolving and fertile academic field and her
disciples regularly produce new approaches and perspectives. So, almost every breakthrough
achieved by proteges of IR is in constant interaction with other academic fields such as
political economy, sociology and philosophy. Such correlations enable new interpretations
and viewpoints. The city as a level of analysis is a colossal contribution to IR since the
traditional IR accounts drawing all the attention to “state” are counterbalanced by critical
approaches in this context.
All in all, Curtis argues that the “global city” is a natural phenomenon enabled by the leading
states. It is the unintended outcome of these states’ labours aimed at finding a solution to the
inconsistency between the territory-based state system and the transnational capitalist market.
The global capitalist market has been spawned as a by-product by the territorial political
entities. However, it is in a constant conflict with these spatial units since the obstacles that
the spatial system imposes on it are obliged to be faced in order for the global capitalist
system to thrive. Indeed, the “global city” is the nexus linking the global market and the
states. Finally, the book is an outstanding contribution to the literature. It is an intriguing work
for the disciples of IR and global city. It is eloquent and well-expressed. Moreover, the
theoretical details and reviews renders the book a must-read for scholars from diverging
academic fields.
References
Lacher, H. 2006. “Beyond Globalization: Capitalism, Territoriality and the International
Relations of Modernity.” Abingdon: Routledge.
Soja, E. W. 2000. “Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions.” Oxford and
Malden, MA, Blackwell.