This book engages with current debates on ‘planetary urbanization’ and the nature of urban political theory but notably considers the implications of illiberalism on space, territory, and power. Such a focus is timely, as illiberalism (across various settings and terrains) is producing, and embedded in, increasingly complex, hybrid, multi-scalar, non-linear, and globally networked flows.

Through ordinary explorations drawn from diverse empirical case studies (China, the United States, India, South Korea, and Singapore) and via mixed methodologies, the chapters in this volume seek to advance theory that moves beyond assumptions and certainties of what illiberalism is, how and where it operates, what it looks like, and how it is experienced and embodied in different contexts, offline and online. Chapters critically reflect upon themes like authoritarianism and the spatialization of illiberal power, from the grassroots up to national governments, and stress the need to move beyond normative understandings and portrayals of these terms and concepts. Presciently, this volume looks back on recent history, pre-dating the Covid-19 pandemic and some of the shocking political transformations now underway: as such, the chapters offer a valuable lens to critically consider issues like public health policies, surveillance and policing, borders and bordering, and activism and resistance.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Territory, Politics, Governance.