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

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

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

Living with Ebola: initiatives from below

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

The tangled web of associational life

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

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

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 needs of informal workers matter in digital innovation

LSE’s Laura Mann and Kate Meagher discuss a recent workshop held at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre from 26 to 30 September 2016, which addressed the challenges of digital inclusion for workers at the bottom of the pyramid

Introduction: globalization, African workers and the terms of inclusion

This introductory article explores the transformative potential of global connections for African workers. It challenges recent claims that African workers have become functionally irrelevant to the global economy by examining the shift of global demand for African workers from formal to increasingly informalised labour arrangements, mediated by social enterprises, labour brokers and graduate entrepreneurs. Focusing on global employment connections initiated from above and from below, we consider why global labour linkages have tended to increase rather than reduce problems of vulnerable and unstable working conditions within African countries, and consider the economic and political conditions needed for African workers to capture the gains of inclusion in the global economy

Introduction: globalization, African workers and the terms of inclusion

This introductory article explores the transformative potential of global connections for African workers. It challenges recent claims that African workers have become functionally irrelevant to the global economy by examining the shift of global demand for African workers from formal to increasingly informalised labour arrangements, mediated by social enterprises, labour brokers and graduate entrepreneurs. Focusing on global employment connections initiated from above and from below, we consider why global labour linkages have tended to increase rather than reduce problems of vulnerable and unstable working conditions within African countries, and consider the economic and political conditions needed for African workers to capture the gains of inclusion in the global economy

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

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