Publication

In this theory talk, agrarian specialist and political scientist James C Scott provides a comprehensive overview of his idea of 'the political'. By arguing that the major resources over which people struggle— land, irrigation water, and food supply—are at the very center of the history of political struggles, he links issues of resource scarcity to the emergence of conflicts. Criticizing the modernization project inherent in existing states, he offers insights into emancipatory resource studies and explains why, despite globalization, the state is still very much alive.