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This book tells the story of the ‘world of crime’ in São Paulo. In so doing, it presents a new framework to understand urban conflict in many other contexts.
The covert interplay between violence and economies has long eluded public scrutiny, remaining a neglected topic in academic and policy circles alike. Amidst the proclamation of the “liberal peace”, democratic nations in the 90s sidestepped discussions on violent influences within their borders. Yet, the repercussions of economic violence, spanning psychological trauma to societal upheaval, persist globally. Beyond preconceived ideas limiting violence to geographic areas and certain political regimes, identifying the profiteers and veiled beneficiaries of such systems is paramount. This understanding is crucial in dismantling the undemocratic underpinnings of economies of violence, fostering a path towards equity and peace. Contributors are Arturo Alvarado, Alain Bauer, Clotilde Champeyrache, Julien Dechanet, Nazia Hussain, David Izadifar, Louise Shelley, and Guillaume Soto-Mayor.
THE POLITICS OF INCREMENTAL PROGRESSIVISM ‘Ungovernable neoliberal post politics assemblage metropolis from the South? No. This book shows innovative redistributive policies, regulation, and social participation recently in São Paulo, although gradually, slowly, and contentiously, and despite failures and inequalities. This great one-city-many-policies comparison departs from high quality empirically grounded research to show that collective action and public policies are back in town. In São Paulo, they have made a difference.’ Patrick Le Galès, Sciences Po CNRS research Professor, Dean Sciences Po Urban School, France ‘For anyone interested in urban governance, The Politics of Inc...
Why some cities are more effective than others at reducing inequalities in the built environment For the first time in history, most people live in cities. One in seven are living in slums, the most excluded parts of cities, in which the basics of urban life—including adequate housing, accessible sanitation, and reliable transportation—are largely unavailable. Why are some cities more successful than others in reducing inequalities in the built environment? In Urban Power, Benjamin Bradlow explores this question, examining the effectiveness of urban governance in two “megacities” in young democracies: São Paulo, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Both cities came out of periods...
Urban violence still has a peculiar standing within social and urban research. This book works to unpack the link between urban, violence, and security with three main arguments. The first is that urban violence is under-theorized because long-term theoretical problems with both of its elements (‘urban’ and ‘violence’). The second is to answer these questions: (1) how can violence be conceptualized in a way that opens to an understanding of the specificity of urban violence? (2) What is the urban in urban violence? And (3) How can ‘urban’ and ‘violence’ be articulated in a way that makes urban violence a category with both analytical and strategic power? The third, and central, argument of this book is that, through a genealogy that articulates political economic and vital materialism, urban violence can ultimately be framed as a precise category shaped by three interlocking trajectories: the process of (capitalist) urbanization, the spatio-political project of the urban, and the concrete urban atmospheres in and through which the process and the project materialize, often violently so, in the urban.
COMPARATIVE URBANISM ‘Comparative Urbanism fully transforms the scope and purpose of urban studies today, distilling innovative conceptual and methodological tools. The theoretical and empirical scope is astounding, enlightening, emboldening. Robinson peels away conceptual labels that have anointed some cities as paradigmatic and left others as mere copies. She recalibrates overly used theoretical perspectives, resurrects forgotten ones long in need of a dusting off, and brings to the fore those often marginalised. Robinson’s approach radically re-distributes who speaks for the urban, and which urban conditions shape our theoretical understandings. With Comparative Urbanism in our hands,...
This book explores how actors practise sovereignty as a force in a multiscalar context. Among the various power structures that perform sovereignty, such as the head of state, a legislative body, or the military, one aspect is clear: the practice of sovereignty relies upon people at multiple levels - better portrayed as scales - of authority. This book focuses on actors – the people who bring sovereignty to life, who imbue it with meaning, and who are ultimately responsible for its practice. With that perspective, the volume interprets various case studies, such as Russian approaches to sovereignty in its leadership and Central Bank, Scottish parties' discourses, and NATO command structure...
Many people take citizenship for granted, but throughout history it has been an embattled notion. This unique book presents a new perspective on citizenship, treating it as a continuous focal point of dispute. Written by scholars from Brazil, France, Britain, and the United States, it offers an international and interdisciplinary exploration of the ways different forms and practices of citizenship embody contesting entanglements of politics, culture, and power. In doing so, it offers a provocative challenge to the ways citizenship is normally conceived of and analyzed by the social sciences and develops an innovative view of citizenship as something always emerging from struggle.
THE COMMODIFICATION GAP ‘In an elegant and careful theoretical analysis, this book demonstrates how gentrification is always entwined with institutions and distinctive contextual processes. Matthias Bernt develops a new concept, the “commodification gap”, which is tested in three richly researched cases. With this, the concept of gentrification becomes a multiplicity and the possibility of conversations across different urban contexts is expanded. A richly rewarding read!’ —Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Human Geography, University College London, UK ‘Urban studies has reached a stalemate of universalism versus particularism. Matthias Bernt is breaking out of this deadlock by be...