Controlling the Capital

Reviews / Votes

Cities have long been viewed as a problem for authoritarian regimes. This fascinating edited volume provides a picture of the strategies used by authoritarian regimes to alternately woo and repress potentially restive urban populations. Goodfellow and Jackman lay out in a clear and cogent way how coercive and more positive 'generative' strategies coexist in urban settings, yielding more or less stable patterns of government control. This is an important book not just for urban scholars but for those more broadly interested in democratization and authoritarian durability. * Professor Adrienne LeBas, Department of Government, American University, Washington D. C. * The capital city has always been the foremost site of protracted struggles over power, prosperity, and livelihoods. This empirically rich and theoretically rigorous collection aptly positions the analytical lens on the capital to shed light on the contours of power contestations, compromises, and ultimately the political economy of change and transformation in Africa and South Asia. Timely and a vital contribution. * Moses Khisa, Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, North Carolina State University * The battle for political control over capital cities is critical to the efforts of governments to contain the threat posed by dynamic opposition parties - and will only become more important as the continent becomes evermore urbanized. This is the best book yet on the subject, offering powerful insights into a wide range of important cases. * Professor Nic Cheeseman, Director of the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR), University of Birmingham * A timely book to understand processes of urban control in the rapidly urbanizing developing world. Taking six capital cities as key spaces of political action, the book provides a trenchant analysis of how authoritarian regimes enmesh urban citizens, repress/prevent dissent among others by co-opting key actors and sections of society, to ensure political domination and authoritarian durability. * Professor Fana Gebresenbet, Director of the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University *