State and the reproduction of capital : urban renewal in Thunder Bay, 1965-1973

Abstract

The purpose of this inquiry is to examine the relationship of the state to the reproduction of capital. The thesis will consider the question of the relationship of the state to capital at the theoretical and empirical level, in a case study of urban renewal in Thunder Bay. At the theoretical level v;e will consider; (a) the relationship of the state and capital accumulation; (b) collective consumption; (c) the general necessity of state intervention into the production of the built environment; (d) the state and crises in capital accumulation and (e) urban protest movements. At the empirical level we will discuss: (a) a particular state agency responsible for regulation of the built environment - the Ontario Municipal Board and (b) The Local State. Finally, we will bring these theoretical and empirical analyses together in considering the case of urban renewal in Thunder Bay. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the necessity of an integrated theory of the state which is a combination of both instrumentalism and structuralism. The concept of structurally induced instrumentality is offered as a possible resolution of the structuralist versus instrumentalism dilemma.