© 2013 The Policy Press. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy edited version of an article published in Policy and Politics. The definitive publisher-authenticated version,Political public space: what it is, why it is special and why standard spatial nostrums mislead, Vol. 41(2), pp. 299-302, 2013 is available online at: dx.doi.org/10.1332/030557313X666591.