118 research outputs found

    Tangled Web of Associational Life: Urban Governance and the Politics of Popular Livelihoods in Nigeria

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    Drawing on case studies of informal enterprise associations in Christian and Muslim parts of Nigeria, this paper explores the differing ways in which networks of ethnicity, class and religion are used to forge links between dynamic informal organizational systems and formal institutions of government

    The Tangled Web of Associational Life

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    This paper examines how decentralization and informalization are reshaping urban governance in contemporary Africa. By exploring the interface between urban institutional failures and popular organizational solutions, the paper considers how informal goveinformal economy, urban governance, Nigeria, enterprise clusters, civil society

    The scramble for Africans: demography, globalisation and Africa’s informal labour markets

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    Images of an 'African Boom' have presented us with labour markets full of dynamic potential: a declining dependency ratio; low levels of unemployment; and a vibrant middle class. This buoyant view of African labour markets conceals a less encouraging reality of catastrophic youth unemployment and expanding informality. How has the continent known for the world's highest share of informal labour become a beacon of prosperity? This article will explore the reality beneath the outbreak of informal economic optimism, and consider why African labour markets are being painted in such rosy colours

    The tangled web of associational life

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    This paper examines how decentralization and informalization are reshaping urban governance in contemporary Africa. By exploring the interface between urban institutional failures and popular organizational solutions, the paper considers how informal governance processes feed into wider structural and political outcomes. Attention paid to issues of institutional process and power relations reveals how the limited access of the poor to resources and decisionmaking structures may distort rather than enhance their agency within decentralized urban governance systems. Drawing on case studies of informal enterprise associations in Christian and Muslim parts of Nigeria, this paper explores the differing ways in which networks of ethnicity, class and religion are used to forge links between dynamic informal organizational systems and formal institutions of government. The varied outcomes of these efforts raise uncomfortable questions about whether the proliferation of popular networks and associations amid weak formal institutions is tipping African cities onto trajectories of popular empowerment and pro-poor growth, or instigating a downward slide into violence and urban decay

    Living with Ebola: Initiatives from below

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    LSE’s Kate Meagher highlights a local initiative which is providing support to areas devastated by the Ebola virus

    Smuggling ideologies: theory and reality in African clandestine economies

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    This chapter explores shifting perspectives on African clandestine economies, with a particular focus on the recent transition from criminalization to hybrid governance approaches. Previously condemned as products of clientism and corruption, clandestine economies are attracting renewed interest for their developmental potential in weak state contexts. Focusing on examples of clandestine cross-border trade in East and West Africa, this chapter shows that increasingly favourable perspectives on the developmental implications of African clandestine economies reflect a change in development policy narratives rather than a shift in the empirical conduct of clandestine trading systems. Indeed, the optimistic turn in perspectives on African clandestine trade often contradicts the empirical realities of the cases on which they focus. Research perspectives have tended to reflect the perceived compatibility of smuggling with policy priorities of liberalization and globalization, revealing the prominent role of ideology in shaping the framing of smuggling research

    Red lines and real choices: media perspectives and the recent London ceasefire marches

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    Since the Israel-Gaza conflict began, seven massive ceasefire marches have been organized in London, drawing hundreds of thousands of people from across the UK to demand an urgent end to the violence

    Protest in a time of monsters: media coverage of the London ceasefire marches

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    Professor Kate Meagher discusses the series of protest marches in London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and adherence to international law. She highlights the disparity between the peaceful nature of the marches and their portrayal in mainstream media as extremist gatherings

    Africa's COVID-19 statistics highlight bias in excess death modelling

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    Despite high levels of informality, Africa’s statistics on COVID-19 mortality have been paradoxically low in comparison to countries in the Global North. Examining studies that attribute low counts to poor statistical reporting, Kate Meagher argues that excess death estimates tell us more about the assumptions of the modellers than they do about the realities of COVID-19 in Africa

    Introduction: special issue on 'informal institutions and development in Africa'

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