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Different Manifestations of the Concept of Empowerment: The Politics of Urban Renewal in the U nited S tates and the U nited K ingdom
Author(s) -
Bacqué MarieHélène,
Biewener Carole
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of urban and regional research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1468-2427
pISSN - 0309-1317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2012.01169.x
Subject(s) - politics , empowerment , state (computer science) , political science , sociology , advertising , business , law , computer science , algorithm
Over the course of the 1990s the concept of empowerment became firmly established within the vocabulary of urban politics in several different national contexts. This article analyzes the spread of this concept by looking at the politics of urban renewal in the U nited S tates and the U nited K ingdom. It shows that even if (and possibly because) the definition of empowerment remained vague, the turn to empowerment came out of and contributed to a shift in the nature of urban politics and to a reconfiguration of governmental methods, the role of the state and, consequently, to changes in civil society, all of which were associated with a rise to prominence of a neoliberal perspective.