The politics of mobilization for security in South African townships

Fourchard, Laurent

doi:10.1093/afraf/adr046

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…In Cape Town, the level of participation in Mitchell Plains CPF is much higher than a few years ago (Fourchard, 2011); in some popular neighbourhoods in eThekwini (Meth, 2011) and in Johannesburg (Dube et al, 2010;Bénit-Gbaffou, 2012), CPFs have become new objects of local power competition. The rise of participatory mechanisms at the local level through ward committees on the one hand, and the increase in political competition (internal or external to the ANC) on the other, still make community policing a rich field for power competition and community initiatives experimentation.…”

Section: Community Policing -Shifts In the Model And Unexpected Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The rise of participatory mechanisms at the local level through ward committees on the one hand, and the increase in political competition (internal or external to the ANC) on the other, still make community policing a rich field for power competition and community initiatives experimentation. In Cape Town, the level of participation in Mitchell Plains CPF is much higher than a few years ago (Fourchard, 2011); in some popular neighbourhoods in eThekwini (Meth, 2011) and in Johannesburg (Dube et al, 2010;Bénit-Gbaffou, 2012), CPFs have become new objects of local power competition. The ANC in particular has deployed its cadres to gain control of the CPF; security comes high on a local councillor's agenda; and Dube et al (2010), followed by Meth (2011), talk about the 'criminalization of governance'.…”

Section: Community Policing -Shifts In the Model And Unexpected Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…CPFs have, therefore, crafted a place on their own in complex political and security governance local settings, building upon, or positioning themselves against, pre-existing and emerging local security initiatives. Evidence in other cities such as Cape Town tends to show that they are becoming increasingly politicized stakes at the local level (Fourchard, 2011).…”

Section: Linking Local Security Initiatives To Community Policing Forumsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local Politics and the Circulation of Community Security Initiatives in Johannesburg

Bénit-Gbaffou

Fourchard

Wafer

2012

Int J Urban Regional Res

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The article analyses the emergence and circulation of community‐driven security initiatives in two types of setting in Johannesburg, South Africa: street patrols and community courts in pre‐apartheid and apartheid townships on the one hand; road closures in post‐apartheid middle‐class suburbs on the other. In spite of the obvious contrasts, the two types of community security initiatives share two important features: originating in a series of confrontations between the state and community groups; and being shaped, used and driven in accordance with local political interests, by existing or emerging local elites building their constituencies in the city. This grid of analysis stressing the political dynamics of community‐driven security initiatives is applied to the global model of community policing, recently imported to South Africa. It usefully complements more classic neoliberal understandings of what community policing means for the governance of security in contemporary African cities. Résumé Cet article analyse l'émergence et la circulation d'initiatives sécuritaires collectives, dans deux types de configurations à Johannesburg, Afrique du Sud: d'une part, les patrouilles de rue et les cours de justice communautaires, au sein des townships, avant et sous le régime d'apartheid; d'autre part, les enclosures en quartier suburbain dans la période post‐apartheid. Au‐delà des contrastes évidents, ces deux dispositifs sécuritaires de quartier ont en commun deux éléments: ils sont nés d'une série de confrontations entre l'Etat et des groupes locaux; ils sont construits, utilisés et instrumentalisés en fonction d'intérêts politiques locaux, par des élites locales cherchant a construire ou consolider leur clientèle politique. Cette grille d'analyse de la gouvernance sécuritaire «du bas», qui met l'accent sur les dynamiques politiques des initiatives sécuritaires de quartier, est appliquée au modèle global de la «police de quartier» (‘community policing’), récemment importé en Afrique du Sud. Cette approche complète utilement les analyses plus classiques de circulation de modèles en termes néolibéraux, et permet de mettre en lumière d'autres aspects de la gouvernance sécuritaire dans les villes africaines contemporaines.

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Section: Community Policing -Shifts In the Model And Unexpected Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Community Policing -Shifts In the Model And Unexpected Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Linking Local Security Initiatives To Community Policing Forumsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local Politics and the Circulation of Community Security Initiatives in Johannesburg

Bénit-Gbaffou

Fourchard

Wafer

2012

Int J Urban Regional Res

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“…During apartheid the police force terrorized, rather than protected communities. Therefore, day-to-day order was enforced by street committees and vigilante groups, which continue to be influential in some areas (Fourchard, 2011;Super 2015). There is, consequently, a prevailing situation in which patrols, stop-and-search procedures and visible policing are all normalized and integrated into, rather than imposed onto, the social fabric of the neighborhood, and come to reflect "not only popular responses to vacuums left by state collapse and neo-liberalism, but also specific historical and cultural logics" (Fourchard, 2011, p. 611).…”

Section: Security Responding To Subjective Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to law, every police station in the country is required to establish a CPF, which acts as a type of neighbourhood watch group. The activities which CPFs engage in vary; in poorer areas it is common for local CPFs to conduct daily foot patrols and act as the primary form of policing(Fourchard, 2011), whilst in wealthier suburbs CPFs frequently act primarily as points of liaison between local residents and the police, and some have even helped fundraise and subsidise their local police stations(Bénit-Gbaffou, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

Everyday security: privatized policing, local legitimacy and atmospheres of control

Mosselson

2018

Urban Geography

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In this paper I examine the tactics, underpinning logics and forms of legitimacy through which urban security is produced and maintained in a volatile urban environment. I argue that urban security is produced through subtle, everyday practices, as much as it relies on the use of force.Research from Johannesburg's inner-city reveals that even powerful actors, such as private security personnel, have to engage in contingent, everyday practices which adapt to the sociospatial realities they are confronted with in order to effectively create regimes of security and order. The article makes a novel contribution by combining literature from policing and security studies with work on gentrification, ambient power and the privatization of public space. It also draws on original empirical research carried out in inner-city Johannesburg over an extended period of time. The central goal of the article is to shift analytic lenses to examine the ways in which social and spatial realities shape security and policing practices and agendas, and to broaden our understanding of the rationales, logics and meanings of urban security, particularly in volatile, conflictual urban spaces (mostly, but not exclusively) in the Global South.

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The politics of mobilization for security in South African townships

Cited by 34 publications

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Local Politics and the Circulation of Community Security Initiatives in Johannesburg

Local Politics and the Circulation of Community Security Initiatives in Johannesburg

Everyday security: privatized policing, local legitimacy and atmospheres of control

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