Dynamics of Urban Violence I: About Gangs and Riots, Territoriality and Legitimacy

Abstract

This panel explores different actors and forms of violence in a global comparative perspective. It investigates the micro-politics of violence across a variety of contexts, exploring the motives, tactics and strategies guiding actors in gangs, vigilantism and riots. The panel presents papers that encompass in-depth case studies, ethnographic and life-story perspectives, among others, and stimulates the reflection on the macro-politics of urban violence: How are urban violence and insecurity embedded in the global political economy, shaped by its fluctuations and crisis? How do global structures inform particular forms of urban violence and with what effects?