Prof. Laurence Piper
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| Position: | Professor |
| Faculty: | Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences |
| Department: | Political Studies |
| Qualifications: | PhD (Cambridge) |
| My publications in this repository | |
| More about me: | here, here , and here. |
| Tel: | 021 959 3234 |
| Fax: | 021 959 3470 |
| Email: | lpiper@uwc.ac.za |
Recent Submissions
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Pervasive, but not politicised: Everyday violence, local rule and party popularity in a Cape Town township
(Institute for Security Studies (ISS), 2016)Through examining violence in the township of Imizamo Yethu in Cape Town, we show that leadership in this community is not based on violence, despite its pervasiveness in the settlement. Further, rule by local leaders and ... -
‘How participatory institutions deepen democracy through broadening representation: the case of participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil’
(Berghahn, 2014-06)Abstract: At the same time as democracy has ‘triumphed’ in most of the world, it leaves many unsatisfied at the disjuncture between the democratic ideal and its practical expression. Participatory practices and institutions, ... -
Enforced informalisation: the case of liquor retailers in South Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2013)After a decade of unsuccessful efforts to migrate informal businesses to South Africa’s formal economy there remains little understanding of the dynamics in this sector, especially as regards micro-enterprises. International ... -
Faith-based organisations, local governance and citizenship in South Africa
(University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009) -
Not waiting for Jackie O: lessons for public participation advocacy in South Africa
(Unisa Press, 2011)This article explores the significance of an important event, namely, the Pioneers of Participation workshop held in November 2009 in Cape Town, for public participation advocacy in South Africa. By tracing the shifting ... -
From religious transcendence to political utopia: the legacy of Richard Turner for Post-Apartheid political thought
(Berghahn Journals, 2010-06)In recent times South African politics has come to exhibit features typical of many post-colonial contexts, not least the rise of acrimonious and confrontational politics based around personalities and forms of populism. ... -
Xenophobia, criminality and violent entrepreneurship: violence against Somali shopkeepers in Delft South, Cape Town, South Africa
(Taylor & Francis; Unisa Press, 2012)Violence against Somali shopkeepers is often cited as evidence of xenophobic attitudes and violence in South Africa. However, as argued in this article, it is not necessarily the case that such violence is driven by ... -
Reconsidering the origins of protest in South Africa: some lessons from Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg
(Unisa Press, 2011)Protest politics in South Africa has a long history and has been deployed differentially in different historical moments. Whereas protests formed an important vehicle during the fight against apartheid, their rebirth and ... -
Further from the people – bipartisan ‘nationalisation’ thwarting the electoral system
(SUN Press, 2012)This chapter argues that local government elections offer a unique opportunity in South Africa’s political system for voters to practice forms of democracy that are more local, plural and accountable in character than at ... -
From local survivalism to foreign entrepreneurship: the transformation of the spaza sector in Delft, Cape Town
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2012)Small, home-based grocery stores, known as spaza shops, are ubiquitous throughout the township areas of urban South Africa, constituting an important business in the informal economy. In recent years, this retail market ... -
Unpacking race, party and class from below: surveying citizenship in the Msunduzi Municipality
(Elsevier, 2012)On the basis of a 2008 survey conducted in the Msunduzi municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province, the paper begins an exploration of the character of popular politics and citizenship in South Africa. Embracing a ... -
The Zuma watershed: from post-apartheid to post-colonial politics in South Africa
(Routledge, 2010)Introduction: It is common cause that the rise of Jacob Zuma in South African politics signals change; what is contested is the nature and extent of that change. For example, Zuma's champions in the Congress of South African ... -
Popular mobilisation, party dominance and participatory governance in South Africa
(Zed Books, 2010)This chapter seeks to explore the character of popular mobilization in South Africa, mostly at the local level. This is done through exploring the interaction of two independent processes. The first concerns the ... -
Too dependent to participate: ward committees and local democratisation in South Africa
(Routledge, 2009)Will participatory local government structures help deepen democracy in South Africa? That is the proclaimed purpose of the ward committee system, the centre- piece of post-apartheid local government reform, intended to ... -
Democracy by accident: the rise of Zuma and the renaissance of the tripartite alliance
(Routledge, 2009)In party organisational terms, the rise of Jacob Zuma to the Presidency of the African National Congress (ANC) is a victory for the alliance partners and the struggle-era vision of the ANC as a popular front, or the ‘ANC ... -
Expert advocacy for the marginalised: how and why democratic mediation matters to deepening democracy in the global South
(Institute of Development Studies, 2011)Summary: The paper argues that the practice of democratic mediation is an increasingly common, yet under-researched, component of engagements between citizens and public authorities across the globe. While the actors who ...
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