Urban Violence Patterns Across African States
Urban Violence Patterns Across African States
复制标题
非洲国家的城市暴力模式
DOI：
10.1111/misr.12206
复制
发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Clionadh Raleigh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Clionadh Raleigh
对非洲各地城市政治暴力的分析探讨了为什么城市地区冲突的比例和频率在增加，而农村地区却在减少。主要是农村地区正式组织的暴力活动减少，城市地区各种形式的政治反对派和冲突增加，这是通过人口统计和基于不满的解释来解释的。城市暴力表现出一系列的代理人，目标，强度和触发器，并被视为在城市环境中发现的能力缺乏和治理不善，或对非洲国家不断变化的人口和政治特征的反应。然而，城市暴力呈现出多种低强度的形式，包括民兵袭击、社区竞争、骚乱和抗议，这表明现代冲突代理人的集体行动能力和目标发生了变化。这些目标本身是由城市不满情绪不断增加的经历形成的，但城市地区的种族和区域异质性阻碍了许多非洲国家政府采取实质性的集体行动来应对城市边缘化。尽管城市威胁的强度较低，但这种复杂的暴力是发展中国家的重大安全威胁，并导致“脆弱城市”的崛起。
This analysis of urban political violence across Africa considers why the proportion and frequency of conflict is increasing in urban areas while decreasing in rural areas. The decline of formally organized violence in predominantly rural areas, and the increase of more variegated forms of political opposition and conflict in urban zones, is interrogated through demographic and grievance-based explanations. Urban violence displays a range of agents, goals, intensities, and triggers and is alternatively regarded as a response to the lack of capacity and poor governance found in urban contexts, or to the changing demographic and political character of African states. Yet, the multiple, low-intensity forms of urban violence present—including militia attacks, communal contests, riots, and protests—indicate a change in the collective action capabilities and goals of modern conflict agents. These goals are themselves shaped by the experience of mounting urban grievances, but the ethnic and regional heterogeneity in urban areas prevents substantial collective action to counter the urban marginalization practiced by many African governments. Despite the low-intensity nature of urban threats, this compounded violence is a substantial security threat across developing states and is leading to the rise of the “fragile city.”