Production and Predation

This chapter will outline some conceptual frameworks for understanding why and under what circumstances rural dwellers might take up their pitchforks against urban centers. Section 2.1 establishes common definitions of the terms and concepts employed. Section 2.2 explains the advantages of using a production network lens to examine the economy. Section 2.3 places the following chapters in a unifying theoretical framework, introduce the role of the state and mechanisms and processes of economic governance more generally. It describes the twin processes of production and predation as aspects of a broader dialectic between intensification and extensification. Section 2.4 constructs a simple model of the rural-urban relationship in conflict to theorize when predators will attempt to prey on the cities, versus when they remain in hinterlands.