Against all odds: poor people jumping scales and the genesis of an urban policy in Flanders, Belgium

Theorising on politics of scale falls in two general categories: class-theoretical (actor-) and capital-theoretical or structural approaches. We discuss how notions of «path-dependency» and «critical conjunctures» can serve as a means to transcend the discrepancies between both approaches. Our analysis of the emergence of an urban policy in Flanders, Belgium shows how a path-dependent development of anti-urban politics was interrupted and changed into a deliberately urban focus when political stability was threatened by the sudden electoral successes of the extreme-right party Vlaams Blok in F... Mehr ...