Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South

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Why is dissatisfaction with local democracy endemic, despite the spread of new participatory institutions? This book argues that a key reason is the limited power of elected local officials, especially to produce the City. City Hall lacks control over key aspects of city decision-making, especially under conditions of economic globalisation and rapid urbanisation in the urban South. Demonstrated through case studies of daily politics in Hout Bay, Democracy Disconnected shows how Cape Town residents engage local rule. In the absence of democratic control, urban rule in the Global South becomes a complex and contingent framework of multiple and multilevel forms of urban governance (FUG) that involve City Hall, but are not directed by it. Bureaucratic governance coexists alongside market, developmental and informal forms of governance. This disconnect of democracy from urban governance segregates people spatially, socially, but also politically. Thus, while the residents of Hout Bay may live next to each other, they do not live with each other. This book will be a valuable resource for students on programmes such as urban studies, political science, sociology, development studies, and political geography. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: The paradox: more participation but an enduring democratic deficit The mainstream model of urban democratic rule The realities confronting urban democratic rule in the Global South Politics and the exclusion of the urban poor The constriction and capture of democratic spaces by elites The limited power of City Hall over local governance and informal life Theorising a framework for analysing democratic rule in the urban South Lukes and domination Stone and social production How is local democratic rule experienced? Ask the residents of the city Reading Democracy Disconnected Note References 1 The Republic of Hout.Bay: A house divided The promise of a Republic The promise of democracy A republic divided by racialised settlements The.Valley Hangberg Imizamo.Yethu A republic divided by party politics DA/ANC dominance Party allegiance maps onto racialised place Hout Bay local elections reflect national trends Conclusion: a house divided Notes References 2 A river of grime: Governing water and waste Waste and water: cleaning up the ‘Republic’ Participatory democracy and the cleaning of the river Mapping failure Participatory democracy through ‘invited spaces’ Bureaucratic governance (a) Silos (b) Departmental mentalities (c) Restructuring d) Spheres e) Scale The Hout Bay Rivers Catchment Forum (HBRCF) Conclusion Note References 3 Selling the mountain: Property, housing, and neo-apartheid segregation The Valley: from white countryside to wealthy security estates Imizamo Yethu: developmental governance, informality, and the limits of state housing Hangberg: fractured by market, developmental, and informal governance Conclusion: the divergent meanings of housing in Hout Bay Notes References 4 Defending the shack: The politics of developmental governance The story of Hangberg The Battle of Hangberg The formation of the Peace and Mediation Forum The PMF and developmental governance Did the model of developmental co-governance work? The challenges confronting developmental co-governance in Hangberg Partisan contests of the PMF role Poor institutional design State dependency and patronage Conclusion: from participation to representation References 5 Poaching the bay: Turning fisherfolk into smugglers Fishing in Hout Bay Fisheries policy Democracy, parties, and poaching Market governance: from fishers to poachers Poaching and market governance Marginalisation and the rise of informality Marginalisation and autochthony Conclusion Notes References 6 Upgrading Imizamo.Yethu: Contests of governance and belonging Facilities, race, and a suburban future Housing, the ANC, and factionalism Informality, livelihoods, and nationality Conclusion Notes References 7 Taxis, violence, and leadership in Imizamo Yethu Taxis and the ‘battle of the green belt’ in Imizamo Yethu Formal taxis, the BRT, and economic exclusion Competition over routes The rise of the bus Informal taxis and ‘party-society’ in Imizamo Yethu Informal taxis, violence, and ‘slow activism’ Conclusion References 8 Protesting Chapman’s Peak toll road: Market governance versus environmental politics Chapman’s Peak Drive: privatising risk The limits of public participation Co-opting representatives from Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg Ignoring public participation Courts and the environment Resisting closure, resisting the toll booth Conclusion Notes References 9 Guarding the bay: Securing safety beyond the police Crime and violence in South Africa and Hout Bay Governing crime Bureaucratic governance: the South African Police Service Developmental governance: community policing Network governance: the Neighbourhood Watch Market governance: private security service providers Informal governance: from vigilantism to crime lords Imizamo Yethu Hangberg The Valley The consequences of contending forms of safety and security governance Spatial and racial consequences of intersecting forms of urban governance Conclusion Notes References Conclusion: Democracy, governance, and neo-apartheid Assessing democratic rule in Hout Bay Politics and belonging Democracy and responsiveness Government and the limited power of City Hall Rethinking power and governance in the urban South Urban power as power ‘over’ residents and ‘power to’ construct the city Informality and the limits of formal control FUG and the production of the City Bureaucratic governance Market governance Developmental governance Network and informal forms of governance Implications of FUG Fragmenting citizenship: consumers, clients, and the marginalised Segregating place: the green, grey, and brown of neo-apartheid Local democracy disconnected References Index