Doctoral Degrees (Political Science)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/658

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Political Science) by Subject "City of Cape Town"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The impact of organised crime on social control by the state : a study of Manenberg in Cape Town, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Lambrechts, Derica; Du Toit, P. V. D. P.; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study set out to research the influence of a local non-state actor on the role and authority of the state, in the domestic environment. Accordingly, the research problem focused on the impact of a domestic actor on the association between the state and the society. This study only focused on the state at the level of local government and the impact of one specific actor, organised criminal groups, on social control by the state. Thus, state-society relations were discussed in this context. In order to guide this study, the main and two supportive research questions were stated as follows: What is the impact of organised crime on the social control by the state? What are the power dynamics between local governance, criminal agents and society? Has the state become criminalised at the level of local government, as a result of the activities of organised crime, and if so, to what extent? The state thus functioned as the dependent variable and organised criminal groups as the independent variable. The theoretical foundation of this study was located in state-society relations, and specific reference was given to the work of Migdal (1988) and his analysis of state social control, pyramidal and weblike societies. Furthermore, a neo-pluralist view of the state was followed. A conceptualisation of the criminalisation of the state was provided, as the criminalisation of the state was regarded as one possible impact of organised crime on the state. In order to analyse the criminalisation of the state, a framework was constructed from four main avenues of empirical observation. In order to answer the research questions, a case study research design and a predominantly qualitative methodology was selected. As a case, the City of Cape Town was selected and Manenberg, located on the Cape Flats, as the site for the research. A case study research design created the opportunity to describe the context in detail and to connect the micro level of analysis to the macro level; thus, it provided insight on the research topic that enabled the researcher to expand/build theory. The field research process occurred over a period of three months using a triangulation of methods: Key informant interview, small group discussions and observation with three categories of respondents. These three categories included: Community members of Manenberg, organised criminal groups and agents of local government and local governance. In order to set the stage for the empirical analysis, a contextualisation of the dependent and independent variables were provided. It was stated that there is a lack of a universally agreed upon definition of organised crime, and as a result, a conceptualisation of organised crime was generated for this study. It was further argued that the majority of literature treats organised criminal groups and organised criminal gangs as two separate concepts, despite the fact that there are more similarities than differences. Thus, for the purpose of this study, a conclusion was reached that the difference is inconsequential. The development of organised crime in South Africa and an examination of the historical development of the gangs on the Cape Flats were described. With regards to the dependent variable, the context was provided for an analysis of local government in South Africa. The demographical and operational features of the municipal area of the City of Cape Town were explained, with specific reference to safety and security elements. The primary data collected was analysed according to the indicators of social control (compliance, participation and legitimacy), as identified by Migdal (1988). In addition, the framework to analyse the criminalisation of the state at the level of local government was applied on the case study. Based on the analysis, a different system, to what was described by Migdal (1988) in his narrative of a triangle of accommodation was found to be in operation in Manenberg on the Cape Flats. It was confirmed that there is the presence of a weakened state and accordingly, a weblike society, where social control is fragmented between local government and the criminal community. However, in this weblike society a system of local power dynamics exists between the criminal community, social community and local agents of governance, where dyadic collaboration occurs between all three the actors. However, despite the collaboration, the criminalisation of the state does not occur, but rather the statification of the organised criminal community, as it provides goods and service to the social community. The main findings can be summarised as: If a state lacks extensive social control and a rival authority has claimed a level of social control, this will not necessarily lead to the further weakening of the state, as a result of a system of power dynamics in place, where collaboration between the social community, the criminal community and local agents of governance occurs. This system is kept in place by: On-going efforts by the state to maintain (or regain) compliance, participation and legitimacy; corrupt agents of the state (specifically in the security sector); a level of operational ease that exists for the criminal community (and the interweaving of the criminal community in the social community) and a relatively strong society that acknowledges the benefits of criminal activities for the social community, but also recognises the authority and control of the state.