The Impact of Organised Crime on State Social Control: Organised Criminal Groups and Local Governance on the Cape Flats, Cape Town, South Africa

Derica Lambrechts

Journal of Southern African Studies, 2012, vol. 38, issue 4, 787-807

Abstract: This study primarily investigates the power dynamics between organised crime, the state and society in order to assess the impact of organised crime on social control by the state. Using the Cape Flats community of Manenberg as a case study, this article examines the interaction of organised criminal gangs with the South African state at the level of local government to provide a descriptive analysis of the power dynamics between the local state, the community and criminal groups. It is argued that organised criminal groups act as a rival social organisation and have acquired forms of social control lost by the state. As a result, the state is not regarded as the most prominent organisation in Manenberg but, rather, as only one actor functioning in a system of local power dynamics. The position of actors within that system can shift and change as configurations of power change dynamically. Nor are the elements of this system necessarily in conflict with each other: state, society and organised crime can sometimes function in a mutually supportive relationship that works in favour of all three. Accordingly, new configurations of power are continually being established and reshaped.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03057070.2012.749060 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cjssxx:v:38:y:2012:i:4:p:787-807

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/cjss20

DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2012.749060

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Southern African Studies is currently edited by Ralph Smith

More articles in Journal of Southern African Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().