The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors

Crackdowns on informal vendors are a common form of violence against the poor in many cities in developing countries. This article uses a media events database to examine crackdowns of informal vendors in Accra, Dakar, and Lusaka from 2000 to 2016. During this period, Accra demonstrated consistently...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Resnick, Danielle
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Comparative Politics CUNY 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145940
_version_ 1855532843805966336
author Resnick, Danielle
author_browse Resnick, Danielle
author_facet Resnick, Danielle
author_sort Resnick, Danielle
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Crackdowns on informal vendors are a common form of violence against the poor in many cities in developing countries. This article uses a media events database to examine crackdowns of informal vendors in Accra, Dakar, and Lusaka from 2000 to 2016. During this period, Accra demonstrated consistently high levels of violence towards vendors, while violence increased in Dakar and decreased in Lusaka. The article argues that these trends are driven by differences in political decentralization for municipal authorities, variations in their administrative mandates over vending, and the degree of influence vendors hold as an electoral constituency. Through a structured comparison of the governance of informal vendors across multiple cities, the article demonstrates how state violence manifests through everyday battles over access to public space.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace145940
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
publishDateSort 2019
publisher Comparative Politics CUNY
publisherStr Comparative Politics CUNY
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1459402025-02-24T06:49:08Z The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors Resnick, Danielle street vendors informal sector crackdowns violence governance Crackdowns on informal vendors are a common form of violence against the poor in many cities in developing countries. This article uses a media events database to examine crackdowns of informal vendors in Accra, Dakar, and Lusaka from 2000 to 2016. During this period, Accra demonstrated consistently high levels of violence towards vendors, while violence increased in Dakar and decreased in Lusaka. The article argues that these trends are driven by differences in political decentralization for municipal authorities, variations in their administrative mandates over vending, and the degree of influence vendors hold as an electoral constituency. Through a structured comparison of the governance of informal vendors across multiple cities, the article demonstrates how state violence manifests through everyday battles over access to public space. 2019-07-15 2024-06-21T09:05:23Z 2024-06-21T09:05:23Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145940 en https://theconversation.com/informal-traders-in-african-cities-are-being-used-as-political-pawns-123396 https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1841171 Limited Access Comparative Politics CUNY Resnick, Danielle. The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors. Comparative Politics 52(1): 21-51(31). https://doi.org/10.5129/001041519X15615651139961
spellingShingle street vendors
informal sector
crackdowns
violence
governance
Resnick, Danielle
The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title_full The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title_fullStr The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title_full_unstemmed The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title_short The politics of crackdowns on Africa’s informal vendors
title_sort politics of crackdowns on africa s informal vendors
topic street vendors
informal sector
crackdowns
violence
governance
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145940
work_keys_str_mv AT resnickdanielle thepoliticsofcrackdownsonafricasinformalvendors
AT resnickdanielle politicsofcrackdownsonafricasinformalvendors