IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v30y2012i6p968-981.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mitigating Conflict and Violence in African Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Sean Fox

    (Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

  • Jo Beall

    (Education and Society, British Council, 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN, England)

Abstract

The process of urbanisation has historically been associated with both socioeconomic development and social strain. Although there is little evidence that urbanisation per se increases the likelihood of conflict or violence in a country, in recent decades Africa has experienced exceptional rates of urban population growth in a context of economic stagnation and poor governance, producing conditions conducive to social unrest and violence. In order to improve urban security in the years ahead, the underlying risk factors must be addressed, including urban poverty, inequality, and fragile political institutions. This, in turn, requires improving urban governance in the region by strengthening the capacity of local government institutions, addressing the complex political dynamics that impede effective urban planning and management, and cultivating integrated development strategies that involve cooperation between various tiers and spheres of government and civil society.

Suggested Citation

  • Sean Fox & Jo Beall, 2012. "Mitigating Conflict and Violence in African Cities," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(6), pages 968-981, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:6:p:968-981
    DOI: 10.1068/c11333j
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c11333j
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c11333j?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Urdal, Henrik & Hoelscher, Kristian, 2009. "Urban youth bulges and social disorder : an empirical study of Asian and Sub-Saharan African cities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5110, The World Bank.
    2. Barrios, Salvador & Bertinelli, Luisito & Strobl, Eric, 2006. "Climatic change and rural-urban migration: The case of sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 357-371, November.
    3. Hegre, Håvard, 2001. "Toward a Democratic Civil Peace? Democracy, Political Change, and Civil War, 1816–1992," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(1), pages 33-48, March.
    4. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "What causes violent crime?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1323-1357, July.
    5. Sean Fox, 2012. "Urbanization as a Global Historical Process: Theory and Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 38(2), pages 285-310, June.
    6. Dennis Rodgers, 2010. "Urban Violence Is not (Necessarily) a Way of Life: Towards a Political Economy of Conflict in Cities," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-020, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beall, Jo & Fox, Sean, 2011. "PD4: mitigating conflict and violence in Africa’s rapidly growing cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41855, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Ashira Menashe-Oren, 2020. "Migrant-based youth bulges and social conflict in urban sub-Saharan Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(3), pages 57-98.
    3. Jedwab, Remi & Christiaensen, Luc & Gindelsky, Marina, 2017. "Demography, urbanization and development: Rural push, urban pull and…urban push?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 6-16.
    4. Wagschal Uwe & Metz Thomas, 2016. "A Demographic Peace? Youth Bulges and Other Population-Related Causes of Domestic Conflict," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1-2), pages 55-97, December.
    5. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay & Elliott Green, 2018. "Urbanization and mortality decline," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 483-503, March.
    6. Maystadt, Jean-François & Trinh Tan, Jean-François & Breisinger, Clemens, 2014. "Does food security matter for transition in Arab countries?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 106-115.
    7. Menashe-Oren, A. & Stecklov, G., 2017. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 17 - Population age structure and sex composition in sub-Saharan Africa: a rural-urban perspective," IFAD Research Series 280055, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    8. Marc Helbling & Daniel Meierrieks, 2023. "Global warming and urbanization," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1187-1223, July.
    9. Mauricio A. Rodr�guez & Nancy A. Daza, 2012. "Determinants of Civil Conflict in Colombia: How Robust are they?," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 109-131, April.
    10. Giovanni Ferri & Roshan Borsato, 2018. "Urbanization And International Migration From Africa," CERBE Working Papers wpC29, CERBE Center for Relationship Banking and Economics.
    11. Alejandro Gaviria & Carlos Medina & Leonardo Morales & Jairo Núñez, 2010. "The Cost of Avoiding Crime: The Case of Bogotá," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America, pages 101-132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Katherine Sawyer & Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham & William Reed, 2017. "The Role of External Support in Civil War Termination," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(6), pages 1174-1202, July.
    13. Philippe Bocquier & Sandra Brée, 2018. "A regional perspective on the economic determinants of urban transition in 19th-century France," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(50), pages 1535-1576.
    14. Otto Lenhart, 2021. "Earned income tax credit and crime," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 589-607, July.
    15. Michel Beine & Ilan Noy & Christopher Parsons, 2021. "Climate change, migration and voice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-27, July.
    16. Bandyopadhyay, Sanghamitra & Green, Elliott, 2013. "Nation-Building and Conflict in Modern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 108-118.
    17. Demombynes, Gabriel & Ozler, Berk, 2005. "Crime and local inequality in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 265-292, April.
    18. Sedova, Barbora & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2020. "Who are the climate migrants and where do they go? Evidence from rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    19. Ishita Chatterjee & Ranjan Ray, 2009. "Crime, Corruption and Institutions," Monash Economics Working Papers 20-09, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    20. Baharom, A.H. & Habibullah, M.S., 2008. "Crime and Income Inequality: The Case of Malaysia," MPRA Paper 11871, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:6:p:968-981. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.