Localism and the (re)creation of capitalist space in the United Kingdom

The article conceptualises the notion of 'the local' within the work of Friedrich Hayek and shows how various public policy measures in the United Kingdom, including privatisation, Total Place, Big Society and the Localism Act, can be seen to fit within this rubric. This framework is used to inform a conceptual and empirical critique of the form that localist policies have taken in the United Kingdom. The article argues that the emphasis on efficiency and the significance of competition to each of these measures has served to consolidate the rule of money without realising meaningful social gains, and that these forms of localism can therefore be seen to have contributed to the (re)creation of capitalist space in the United Kingdom.